Sintering of Ti–Al nanoparticle pairs: a molecular dynamics simulation study

Molecular dynamics simulations were used to investigate the effects of aluminum content and sintering temperature on the sintering process of Ti–Al nanoparticles. The target sintering temperatures were set to 1300 K, 1400 K, 1500 K, and 1600 K, with aluminum atomic fractions of 0%, 1%, 3%, 5%, 8%, and 10%. The sintering performance was evaluated through common neighbor analysis, sintering neck width, radius of gyration, and mean square displacement (MSD). The results show that higher sintering temperatures lead to a greater degree of sintering; when the temperature exceeds 1500 K, the nanoparticles can fully merge. Additionally, the neck width, MSD growth rate during the heating stage, and the drop rate of the radius of gyration at the sudden decrease all increase with rising temperature. Furthermore, increasing the aluminum content inhibits sintering. When the aluminum fraction exceeds 8%, complete sintering becomes difficult. Both the growth rate of the neck width and the MSD growth rate, as well as the drop rate of the radius of gyration, decrease with increasing aluminum content.