J Mater Sci Technol ›› 2006, Vol. 22 ›› Issue (01): 123-126.

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Kinetics Investigation of Sintering of Nanometer Size Metal Clusters:A Molecular Dynamics Study

Xing ZHAO, Shaoqing WANG, Caibei ZHANG   

  1. College of Science, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110004, China...
  • Received:2005-02-01 Revised:2005-05-10 Online:2006-01-28 Published:2009-10-10
  • Contact: Caibei ZHANG

Abstract: The sintering process of nanometer size gold clusters is investigated by using molecular dynamics simulation in the frame of embedded atomistic method. Several molecular dynamics simulation techniques are used to observe and describe the evolution of the sintering process. The energy distribution for single cluster is examined and the snapshots of sintering process of two clusters are recorded. The evolution of sintering is also described by plotting the mass center changes with time for each cluster. The variations of kinetic and potential energy during the process of sintering are monitored and measured to analyze the dominant mechanisms of sintering from the energy point of view.

Key words: Sintering, Nanometer size cluster, Molecular dynamics