Growth rate, defect formation, and interface temperature in the solidification of pure metals: a comparative study of Ni, Cu, Al and Ag

HY Zhang and LJ Dong and YL Shi and YK Zhu, MOLECULAR SIMULATION, 51, 1008-1019 (2025).

DOI: 10.1080/08927022.2025.2564750

This study investigates the relationship between growth rate, defect concentration, and interface temperature during the solidification of pure metals (nickel, copper, aluminum, and silver), building on prior work on nickel and aluminum. Computational simulations for copper and silver were compared with earlier results 50. Vacancies were found to be the dominant defects in all four metals. Grain boundaries formed in copper at 763 K but not in the other three metals or at other temperatures. We identified a local minimum in growth rates at a certain temperature, which coincided with an abrupt change in vacancy concentration as a function of interface temperature. A local minimum in growth rates coincided with a sharp change in vacancy concentration, suggesting a possible shift in growth mechanisms between low and deep undercooling. Aluminum exhibited unique behaviour, with its growth rate dropping to zero at deep undercooling, while the other three metals showed oscillatory growth near their maximum growth rates. Radial distribution function (RDF) analysis revealed that only aluminum developed a glassy structure below 500 K. These findings provide insights into the solidification mechanisms across elemental metals.

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