Abstract
AbstractIsothermal molecular dynamics simulations were carried out with the embedded-atom method as a potential to predict the melting and crystallization temperatures of nanometric sized aluminum particles in the range of $$2$$
2
–$$4 \mathrm{nm}$$
4
nm
. Simulated data predicted a decrease in the melting point $${T}_{m}$$
T
m
of aluminum nanoparticles with an increase in their inverse radius $${r}^{-1}$$
r
-
1
according to an almost linear law. The data obtained predicted a higher value of melting temperature compared to crystallization by $$\Delta T=272 \mathrm{K}$$
Δ
T
=
272
K
for a size of $$4\mathrm{ nm}$$
4
nm
and, $$\Delta T=193 K$$
Δ
T
=
193
K
for $$2\mathrm{ nm}$$
2
nm
. The $${T}_{m}$$
T
m
of the nanoparticles augmented with increasing size, from $$720 K$$
720
K
for $$2 \mathrm{nm}$$
2
nm
to $$827 \mathrm{K}$$
827
K
for $$4\mathrm{ nm}$$
4
nm
. Furthermore, a linear extrapolation of the $${T}_{m}$$
T
m
as a function of the inverse of the cubic root of the number of atoms yielded a melting temperature of aluminum of $$947 \pm 8 \mathrm{K}$$
947
±
8
K
, which is similar to previous estimations. Finally, when the number of atoms increased the number of face-centered cubic (FCC) structural units also increased, and the amorphous structure decreased.
Funder
Universidad Tecnologica de Pereira
Technological University of Pereira
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
General Physics and Astronomy