Scaling behavior of the surface energy in face-centered cubic metals

The binding energy of metals shows a universal feature which can be described by an equation of state. We explore the scaling behavior of the surface energy in face-centered cubic metals and propose the concept of equivalent structures. The surface energies were calculated on various orientations using the modified embedded-atom method. A strong linear correlation was observed between the surface energies of different metals. Based on the results, we established a scaled surface energy-to-element relationship. This scalability suggests an efficient scheme to estimate the orientation dependency of the surface energy by two characteristic parameters.