Preliminary Studies on Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Friction Stir Processing of Aluminium Alloys

Abstract

Molecular dynamics (MD) is a computer simulation method for studying the physical movements of atoms and molecules at nanoscale. It allows interaction between the atoms and molecules for a fixed period, giving an understanding of the system as they dynamically begin to evolve. The paths of the atoms and molecules are determined by numerically solving Newton's equations of motion for a system of interacting atoms, where interatomic potentials or molecular mechanics force fields are used to calculate forces and potential energies between the atoms. In this study, the basic parameters used in MD simulations are briefly discussed. An MD simulation of the friction stir processing (FSP) of aluminium alloy 6061-T6 was carried out to explain the invisible thermodynamic microscopic details which occurred during the process. However, the aim of the MD simulation is not to predict precisely the process, but to predict the average thermodynamic behavior of the process if conducted in a practical state. This is to further enhance the understanding of the FSP process. The results obtained from the MD simulation prove that it may be possible to adequately represent the MD simulation of the FSP of an aluminium alloy.