The sintering mechanisms of nanoscale copper powders have been investigated. A molecular dynamics (MD) simulation with the embedded-atom method (EAM) was employed for these simulations. The dimensional changes for initial-stage sintering such as characteristic lengths, neck growth, and neck angle were calculated to understand the densification behavior of copper nano-powders. Factors affecting sintering such as the temperature, powder size, and crystalline misalignment between adjacent powders have also been studied. These results could provide information of setting the processing cycles and material designs applicable to nano-powders. In addition, it is expected that MD simulation will be a foundation for the multi-scale modeling in sintering process.

• Yujin Seong(Department of Mechanical Engineering, POSTECH)
• Sungwon Hwang(Department of Mechanical Engineering, POSTECH)
• See Jo Kim(Department of Mechanical Design Engineering, Andong National University)
• Sungho Kim(Center for Computational Sciences, Mississippi State University, USA)
• Seong-Gon Kim(Department of Physics and Astronomy, Mississippi State University, USA)
• Hak Jun Kim(Agency for Defense Development)
• Seong Jin Park(Department of Mechanical Engineering, POSTECH) Corresponding Author