Mechanical behaviour of nanoparticles: Elasticity and plastic deformation mechanisms

Nano-objects often exhibit drastically different properties compared to their bulk counterpart, opening avenues for new applications in many fields, such as in advanced composite materials, nanomanufacturing, nanoelectromechanical systems etc. As such, related research topics have become increasingly prominent in recent years. In this review on the mechanical behaviour of nanoparticles, the main investigation approaches are first briefly presented. The main results in terms of elasticity and plastic deformation mechanisms are then reported and discussed.