Molecular Dynamics Study on Melting Phenomena in Cu-Ag Eutectic System

This study is made to elucidate the primary mechanism dominating the inception and progress of eutectic melting between two solid metals contacting with each other. In this study, Cu-Ag eutectic system is simulated with classical molecular dynamics using Embedded Atom Method (1) . First, melting temperature of solid solution of Cu-Ag binary system is investigated. The melting temperature depends on the atomic concentration of Cu and follows the liquidus line obtained in the experiments. The minimum melting temperature was obtained at the eutectic concentration. The melting behavior on the interface between two pure Cu and Ag slabs are then simulated. The mutual diffusion at the interface was considerably enhanced by the surface melting of both the metals. It is shown that the melting temperature at the interface is lowered depending on the local value of the atomic fraction and is almost identical to that of the solid solution with the corresponding atomic fraction.