Molecular Dynamics Study on Superheating of Ni at High Heating Rates

Molecular dynamics simulations are employed to study the melting and superheating behaviors of bulk Nickel at high heating rates. Quantum Sutton- Chen many body potential is used for these simulations. Being heated, the superheating and melting behavior are found to be strongly affected by the heating rate, and heating rate induced randomization during non-equilibrium heating processes is found to be the main driving force for phase transformation, and it eliminates the energy barrier for nucleation. Not only Ni crystals but also Ni crystals with defects are studied. And the upper limit of heating rate induced superheating is determined to be around 2050 K.