Molecular Dynamics Simulation on Crack Propagation for Magnesium

Abstract

The crack propagation for pure Magnesium at an atomic scale level under external loading was carried out by using a molecular dynamics method. In this study, the Modified Embedded Atom Method (MEAM) was used to characterize the interactions of atoms and the Newtonian equations were solved by Velocity-Verlet algorithm. The crack propagation and failure processes were observed around the crack tip. The calculation results reveal that vacancies were formed near the crack tip during the failure processes for pure Magnesium, and the coalescence between crack tip and vacancies induced the crack growth with the increase in loading.