In-Plane Lattice Deformation Reshapes Interfacial Thermal Transport and Stability Limits in van der Waals Heterostructures

heterobilayers, we experimentally observe that a modest in-plane tensile strain (∼1.6%) enhances interfacial thermal conductance by approximately 50%, with excellent reproducibility across independent samples and full reversibility over multiple strain-release cycles. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal that this enhancement originates from strain-induced interfacial compliance, characterized by contraction of the vdW gap, stiffening of interlayer force constants, and strengthened elastic phonon transmission. Importantly, strain-enhanced interfacial heat transport increases the critical absorbed power density prior to thermal degradation, indicating that mechanical deformation effectively shifts the apparent thermal stability threshold by reconfiguring heat-dissipation pathways. This work establishes in-plane mechanical deformation as a noninvasive and dynamically controllable method for reshaping interfacial heat transport and associated stability limits in vdW heterostructures, providing a scalable route toward adaptive thermal management in 2D material-based electronic architectures.