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Revealing the shock-induced complex phase transformations of tin and their impacts on spallation
X
陈
W
王
DOI:10.1016/j.actamat.2026.122561.png)
Abstract
En 中文
Spallation, a critical mode of dynamic fracture, remains a central focus in the study of material response under extreme conditions. While widely studied in common metals, the spallation of tin (Sn), a group IV element exhibiting multiple solid phase along the shock-Hugoniot, presents significant challenges due to its complex pressure-temperature phase diagram. This complexity poses significant challenges for experimental characterization and reliability of interatomic potentials used in atomistic simulations. Consequently, the phase transition pathways and their influence on spallation in Sn remain poorly understood. In this work, we employ non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations using a first-principles accuracy machine learning potential to simulate the dynamic response of Sn at strain rates down to ∼6×109/s , which is comparable to experiments. Our simulations successfully capture critical behaviors such as shock-induced phase transitions and melting, and reproduce their experimental shock pressures. Meanwhile, the results clearly elucidate the β -to- bct transition pathway, revealing a two-stage mechanism mediated by an intermediate simple-hexagonal phase. Furthermore, we identify two distinct dynamic behaviors along the loading-unloading thermodynamic pathway: phase transition-mediated release amorphization and shock-induced kinetic metastable cold melting below the equilibrium melting point. These behaviors are shown to originate from the large differences in the slopes of the melting lines between adjacent solid phases. These findings provide atomistic-scale evidence directly linking phase transformations to spallation failure, offering new insights into the fundamental physics of dynamic fracture in Sn.
Keywords:
Interatomic potentials
Molecular dynamics simulation
Phase diagrams
Phase transformation
Journal
IF:
9.3
Papers:
2.0W
Citations:
12.9W
