Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Thermomechanical Properties of Hollow Palladium Nanoparticle Pairs during Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

A molecular dynamics (MD) simulation method with the embedded atom model (EAM)/alloy potential was used to investigate the thermomechanical properties of nanoscale hollow palladium (Pd) nanoparticle pairs during additive manufacturing (AM). The purpose was to explore and analyze hollow Pd nanoparticle pairs at room temperature obtained by AM. The thermomechanical properties of the hollow Pd nanoparticle pairs were discussed with the aim of proposing optimal parameters. It was shown that the nanoscale coalescence temperature of Pd was in the range of 750 to 1530 K and the nanoscale melting temperature was from 1414 to 1600 K, which were much lower than the macroscopic melting point (1828.05 K) of Pd. It was found that solid-state sintering can occur spontaneously at room temperature. The size and geometrical structure of the nanoparticles and the heating rate played important roles during AM.