Numerical study of stress relaxation in nanostructures in the course of uniaxial straining

Stress relaxation in a nano-sized rod containing structural defects in the course of constant-rate uniaxial straining is studied, and the reasons for the onset of this phenomenon are determined. Under the assumption that structural defects can serve as carriers of irreversible deformation of a higher level than dislocations, the problem is solved by the molecular dynamics method. It is found that stress relaxation is accompanied by the transition of the entire system to a steady state with a deeper potential minimum as compared to the system energy before the stress relaxation process, resulting in a temperature increase and reduction of the strain tensor components.