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Molecular dynamics simulation of neck growth in laser sintering of different-sized gold nanoparticles under different heating rates

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Abstract

The neck growth in the laser sintering of different-sized gold (100) nanoparticles under different heating rates is investigated using a molecular dynamics method. The numerical simulations are carried out for four pairs of two spherical nanoparticles under three different heating rates. For each pair, one nanoparticle has the same diameter of 4 nm and the other nanoparticle’s diameter is varied, ranging from 4 nm to 20 nm. The results show that the solid state sintering automatically takes place by local potential at room temperature. The stable neck width increases as the size of the other nanoparticle increases. Once the limit stable neck width is reached, it no longer is affected by the nanoparticle size. For the subsequent laser heating to the same final temperature, a lower heating rate results in a larger stable neck width due to the longer sintering process. The neck growth mechanisms and rate under various sintering conditions are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

Support for this work by the US National Science Foundation under Grant No. CBET-0730143 is gratefully acknowledged. The authors thank the University of Missouri Bioinformatics Consortium (UMBC) for providing supercomputing time.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA

    Lingqi Yang, Yuwen Zhang & J. K. Chen

  2. Department of Engineering Mechanics, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, 310027, China

    Yong Gan

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  1. Lingqi Yang
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  2. Yong Gan
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Correspondence to Yuwen Zhang.

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Yang, L., Gan, Y., Zhang, Y. et al. Molecular dynamics simulation of neck growth in laser sintering of different-sized gold nanoparticles under different heating rates. Appl. Phys. A 106, 725–735 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-011-6680-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-011-6680-x

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