133 research outputs found
Void Growth in BCC Metals Simulated with Molecular Dynamics using the Finnis-Sinclair Potential
The process of fracture in ductile metals involves the nucleation, growth,
and linking of voids. This process takes place both at the low rates involved
in typical engineering applications and at the high rates associated with
dynamic fracture processes such as spallation. Here we study the growth of a
void in a single crystal at high rates using molecular dynamics (MD) based on
Finnis-Sinclair interatomic potentials for the body-centred cubic (bcc) metals
V, Nb, Mo, Ta, and W. The use of the Finnis-Sinclair potential enables the
study of plasticity associated with void growth at the atomic level at room
temperature and strain rates from 10^9/s down to 10^6/s and systems as large as
128 million atoms. The atomistic systems are observed to undergo a transition
from twinning at the higher end of this range to dislocation flow at the lower
end. We analyze the simulations for the specific mechanisms of plasticity
associated with void growth as dislocation loops are punched out to accommodate
the growing void. We also analyse the process of nucleation and growth of voids
in simulations of nanocrystalline Ta expanding at different strain rates. We
comment on differences in the plasticity associated with void growth in the bcc
metals compared to earlier studies in face-centred cubic (fcc) metals.Comment: 24 pages, 12 figure
Time-dependent energy absorption changes during ultrafast lattice deformation
The ultrafast time-dependence of the energy absorption of covalent solids
upon excitation with femtosecond laser pulses is theoretically analyzed. We use
a microscopic theory to describe laser induced structural changes and their
influence on the electronic properties. We show that from the time evolution of
the energy absorbed by the system important information on the electronic and
atomic structure during ultrafast phase transitions can be gained. Our results
reflect how structural changes affect the capability of the system to absorb
external energy.Comment: 7 pages RevTeX, 8 ps figures, submitted to Journal of Appl. Physic
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Beyond Finite Size Scaling in Solidification Simulations
Although computer simulation has played a central role in the study of nucleation and growth since the earliest molecular dynamics simulations almost 50 years ago, confusion surrounding the effect of finite size on such simulations have limited their applicability. Modeling solidification in molten tantalum on the BlueGene/L computer, we report here on the first atomistic simulation of solidification that verifies independence from finite size effects during the entire nucleation and growth process, up to the onset of coarsening. We show that finite size scaling theory explains the observed maximal grain sizes for systems up to about 8,000,000 atoms. For larger simulations, a cross-over from finite size scaling to more physical size-independent behavior is observed
High pressure diamond-like liquid carbon
We report density-functional based molecular dynamics simulations, that show
that, with increasing pressure, liquid carbon undergoes a gradual
transformation from a liquid with local three-fold coordination to a
'diamond-like' liquid. We demonstrate that this unusual structural change is
well reproduced by an empirical bond order potential with isotropic long range
interactions, supplemented by torsional terms. In contrast, state-of-the-art
short-range bond-order potentials do not reproduce this diamond structure. This
suggests that a correct description of long-range interactions is crucial for a
unified description of the solid and liquid phases of carbon.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Atoms in the Surf: Molecular Dynamics Simulation of the Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability using 9 Billion Atoms
We present a fluid dynamics video showing the results of a 9-billion atom
molecular dynamics simulation of complex fluid flow in molten copper and
aluminum. Starting with an atomically flat interface, a shear is imposed along
the copper-aluminum interface and random atomic fluctuations seed the formation
of vortices. These vortices grow due to the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. The
resulting vortical structures are beautifully intricate, decorated with
secondary instabilities and complex mixing phenomena. This work performed under
the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.Comment: Description of video submitted to APS DFD Gallery of Fluid Motion
200
Nature of phase transition(s) in striped phase of triangular-lattice Ising antiferromagnet
Different scenarios of the fluctuation-induced disordering of the striped
phase which is formed at low temperatures in the triangular-lattice Ising model
with the antiferromagnetic interaction of nearest and next-to-nearest neighbors
are analyzed and compared. The dominant mechanism of the disordering is related
to the formation of a network of domain walls, which is characterized by an
extensive number of zero modes and has to appear via the first-order phase
transition. In principle, this first-order transition can be preceded by a
continuous one, related to the spontaneous formation of double domain walls and
a partial restoration of the broken symmetry, but the realization of such a
scenario requires the fulfillment of rather special relations between the
coupling constants.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, ReVTeX
Structural transitions and nonmonotonic relaxation processes in liquid metals
Structural transitions in melts as well as their dynamics are considered. It
is supposed that liquid represents the solution of relatively stable solid-like
locally favored structures (LFS) in the surrounding of disordered normal-liquid
structures. Within the framework of this approach the step changes of liquid Co
viscosity are considered as liquid-liquid transitions. It is supposed that this
sort of transitions represents the cooperative medium-range bond ordering, and
corresponds to the transition of the "Newtonian fluid" to the "structured
fluid". It is shown that relaxation processes with oscillating-like time
behavior (~) of viscosity are possibly close to
this point
Theory for the ultrafast ablation of graphite films
The physical mechanisms for damage formation in graphite films induced by
femtosecond laser pulses are analyzed using a microscopic electronic theory. We
describe the nonequilibrium dynamics of electrons and lattice by performing
molecular dynamics simulations on time-dependent potential energy surfaces. We
show that graphite has the unique property of exhibiting two distinct laser
induced structural instabilities. For high absorbed energies (> 3.3 eV/atom) we
find nonequilibrium melting followed by fast evaporation. For low intensities
above the damage threshold (> 2.0 eV/atom) ablation occurs via removal of
intact graphite sheets.Comment: 5 pages RevTeX, 3 PostScript figures, submitted to Phys. Re
Liquid-liquid equilibrium for monodisperse spherical particles
A system of identical particles interacting through an isotropic potential
that allows for two preferred interparticle distances is numerically studied.
When the parameters of the interaction potential are adequately chosen, the
system exhibits coexistence between two different liquid phases (in addition to
the usual liquid-gas coexistence). It is shown that this coexistence can occur
at equilibrium, namely, in the region where the liquid is thermodynamically
stable.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures. Published versio
A Simple Model of Liquid-liquid Phase Transitions
In recent years, a second fluid-fluid phase transition has been reported in
several materials at pressures far above the usual liquid-gas phase transition.
In this paper, we introduce a new model of this behavior based on the
Lennard-Jones interaction with a modification to mimic the different kinds of
short-range orientational order in complex materials. We have done Monte Carlo
studies of this model that clearly demonstrate the existence of a second
first-order fluid-fluid phase transition between high- and low-density liquid
phases
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