Comment on "Effects of shear methods on shear strengths and deformation modes of two typical transition metal carbides and their unification"

Abstract

Recently, Chuanying Li, Tao Fu, Xule Li, Hao Hu, and Xianghe Peng in [Phys. Rev. B 107, 224106] investigated the mechanical behavior of cubic HfC and TaC under simple shear (SS) and pure shear (PS) using first-principles calculations. Unfortunately, the paper contains some serious and fundamental flaws in the field of continuum mechanics and nanomechanics. The results presented appear to be qualitatively and quantitatively incorrect, they would be correct if we were in the small/linear deformation/strain regime, which we are not. A correct description therefore requires a finite/nonlinear deformation/strain apparatus.