Fig. 2

Evolution of the system under constant mean shear stress as a function of cyclic perturbations. a Strain evolution as cycling progresses for different stress levels. The inset shows the drop in potential energy level during the process. For the case where stress is zero, the strain remains constant, while the energy drops regardless. Such behavior is akin to relaxation phenomena in glasses and can be explained via hierarchically constrained dynamics with stretched exponential behavior. b The drop in potential energy during the unloading phase. We observe an exponential relaxation reminiscent of viscoelastic deformation in solids. c The decrease in the enthalpy as a function of cycles during the relaxation stage. This indicates that the enthalpy as well as internal energy is minimized in these relaxation processes. d The change in average Voronoi volume and asphericity of the atoms in the interlayer and intralayer of the specimens. We observe a significant decrease in characteristics of the Voronoi cell for atoms in the interlayer, while the intralayer attributes remain approximately constant. This highlights the reconfiguration of interlayer constituents as the primary contributor to the relaxation phenomenon at the nanoscale