Atomistic Simulation of Sintering Mechanism of Nano-Scale Copper Powder

Abstract

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of the sintering process for crystalline copper powders at the submicroscopic level has been performed to understand how nano-scale powders are processed. We used the embeddedatom method (EAM) to describe the interaction between Cu atoms. The amount of neck growth and shrinkage during sintering has been calculated in the simulation, which enables the extension of these results to understanding how the global physical properties are evolved during sintering. The simulation of the densification and grain growth during sintering has also been calculated, considering variations in temperature, pressure, particle size, and crystalline misalignment between adjacent particles. These computational experiences are expected to provide ways of setting the processing cycles and materials design applicable to nano-scale powders in terms of the densification and grain growth during sintering. In addition, it is expected that MD simulation will be a foundation for multi-scale modeling that spans from atomistic simulation to discrete element method (DEM) to finite element method(FEM) for sintering process.