Molecular dynamics simulation of the thermal pulse explosion of metal nanowire

Molecular dynamics simulation of the thermal pulse explosion of metal nanowire, which modeled the slow mode electric explosion of metal wire, was carried out. The potential calculated in the framework of the embedded atom method (EAM). The expansion of wire core and the explosion products in the simulated system were investigated. Simulation results confirm that the collapse of material tensile stress triggers the cavitation and subsequent explosion; due to size effect, the thermal pulse explosion is not preferential atoms evaporation, but clustered together into clusters synchronously; small clusters and free atoms formed in the nanowire explosion account for a certain proportion of the total mass which cannot be ignored in nanoscale objects. It is shown that this method can simulate the slow mode electric explosion of metal wires (EEW) effectively.