Molecular Dynamics Investigations of Thermomechanical Characteristics of Solid and Hollow Spherical Platinum Nanoparticles during Additive Manufacturing

The molecular dynamics simulation method with the embedded atom model/Finnis-Sinclair potential was used to investigate solid and hollow spherical platinum (Pt) nanoparticles under different heating rates during the additive manufacturing process. We concluded that the coalescence temperatures of solid and hollow spherical Pt nanoparticles range between 975 and 1450 K and between 561 and 1414 K, respectively. We concluded also that the melting temperatures of solid and hollow spherical Pt nanoparticles range between 1300 and 1535 K and between 1250 and 1500 K, respectively. In this study, we found that the lower the heating rate, the greater the diffusion of Pt atoms. The solid-state sintering of Pt nanoparticles can spontaneously occur at 300 K. We concluded that the melting temperatures of both solid and hollow spherical Pt nanoparticles are still lower than the macroscopic melting point of Pt (2041.4 K).