Molecular dynamics study of the coalescence of equal and unequal sized cu nanoparticles

Abstract

Molecular dynamics simulations technique is used to study the consolidation of two nanoparticles of Cu element. We have studied sintering processes of two nanoparticles at different temperatures. Two model systems with 4 and 10 nm diameter of particles are selected to study the sintering process of the two nanoparticles. Orientation effects on the physical properties of consolidation of two nanoparticles with respect to each other are investigated. Temperature effects on the consolidation of two nanoparticles are also studied. The order of the values obtained in the simulation for the constant volume heat capacity and latent heat of fusion is good agreement with the bulk results. Moreover, we have investigated the size effects on the consolidation of two different sizes of nanoparticles, that is, one particle of diameter with 10 nm is fixed while the other one is changing from 1 to 10 nm. Melting temperatures of the copper nanoparticles are found to be decreased as the size of the particle decreases. It is found that simulation results are compatible with the other theoretical calculations. © 2009 World Scientific Publishing Company.