Physics – Condensed Matter – Materials Science
Scientific paper
2011-03-30
Journal of Nuclear Materials 421 (2012) pp. 1-8
Physics
Condensed Matter
Materials Science
11 pages, 8 figures, 5 tables
Scientific paper
10.1016/j.jnucmat.2011.11.030
In this article we investigated surface of nanocrystals (NC) of uranium dioxide (UO2) using molecular dynamics (MD) under isolated (non-periodic) boundary conditions with the approximation of pair potentials and rigid ions. It is shown that a cubic shape of the model NCs is metastable and the stable equilibrium is reached in the process of structural relaxation to the octahedral shape over a time of 1000 ns (200 million MD steps), which increases with the size of NC. We measured the size dependences of the lattice parameter and the surface energy density for NC of cubic and octahedral shape with volume up to 1000 nm3 (50000 particles) at temperatures of 2200K and 2300K. For the surfaces {100} and {111} we obtained the energy density {\sigma}100=1.602\pm0.016 J/m^2, {\sigma}111=1.137\pm0.032 J/m^2 and surface tension constant {\gamma}111=0.875\pm0.008 J/m^2. The resulting ratio of {\sigma}100/{\sigma}111=1.408\pm0.042 within the error coincides with the experimental value of 1.42\pm0.05 measured for microscopic cavities in monocrystals of UO2.
Boyarchenkov A. S.
Kupryazhkin Ya. A.
Nekrasov Anatoly K.
Potashnikov S. I.
No associations
LandOfFree
Molecular dynamics simulation of UO2 nanocrystals surface does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Molecular dynamics simulation of UO2 nanocrystals surface, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Molecular dynamics simulation of UO2 nanocrystals surface will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-569727