Classical molecular dynamics simulations of hypervelocity nanoparticle impacts on amorphous silica

Abstract

We have investigated the transition from the atomistic to the macroscopic impact mechanism by simulating large Argon cluster impacts on amorphous silica. The transition occurs at cluster sizes less than $50\text{ }000$ atoms at hypervelocity regime (22 km/s). After that, the crater volume increases linearly with the cluster size opposite to the nonlinear scaling typical of small cluster impacts. The simulations demonstrate that the molecular dynamics method can be used to explore atomistic mechanisms that lead to damage formation in small particle impacts, for example, in impacts of micrometeorites on spacecraft.