Loading direction dependent mechanical behavior of graphene under shear strain

The mechanical behavior of graphene under in-plane shear is studied using molecular dynamics simulations. We show that the shear behavior of chiral graphene is dependent on the loading direction due to its structural asymmetry. The maximum shear failure strain of graphene in one direction may be 1.7 times higher than that in the opposite direction. We discuss also the influence of the cut-off parameters on the calculations. Our findings are useful for the understanding of mechanical behavior of graphene and the potential applications of graphene in nanodevices.