Nanoprojectile impacts

/images/prl12.jpg — Nanoparticle impact cratering (journal cover).

/images/impact1.jpg — A nanoprojectile striking the substrate.

/images/impact2.jpg — Crater formation in the target.

Work by Eduardo Bringa at Universidad Nacional de Cuyo (Argentina) and collaborators to model the impact of nanoparticles up to 55 nm in diameter hitting substrate targets with up to 10 billion particles. The difference in cratering mechanisms was found to change for small vs. large particles, with the latter transitioning to plastic flow mechanisms characteristic of microparticle experiments. The large simulations were performed with LAMMPS.

Related publications

Why Nanoprojectiles Work Differently than Macroimpactors: The Role of Plastic Flow, C. Anders, E. M. Bringa, G. Ziegenhain, G. A. Graham, J. F. Hansen, N. Park, N. E. Teslich, and H. M. Urbassek, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 027601 (2012). doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.027601