Method for Computing the Anisotropy of the Solid-Liquid Interfacial Free Energy

J. J. Hoyt; Mark Asta; Alain Karma

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.5530

Method for Computing the Anisotropy of the Solid-Liquid Interfacial Free Energy

J. J. Hoyt, Mark Asta, and Alain Karma

Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 5530 – Published 11 June 2001

Abstract

We present a method to compute accurately the weak anisotropy of the solid-liquid interfacial free energy, a parameter which influences dendritic evolution in materials with atomically rough interfaces. The method is based on monitoring interfacial fluctuations during molecular dynamics simulation and extracting the interfacial stiffness which is an order of magnitude more anisotropic than the interfacial free energy. We present results for pure Ni with interatomic potentials derived from the embedded atom method.

Received 31 August 2000

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.5530

Authors & Affiliations

J. J. Hoyt¹, Mark Asta², and Alain Karma³

¹Sandia National Laboratories, MS 9161, P.O. Box 969, Livermore, California 94550
²Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, 60208
³Physics Department, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115