Molecular dynamics simulation of shock-induced melting and alloying*

We observe sequent shock-induced melting processes occurring in Ni/Al nanonaminates by means of molecular dynamics simulations. We find a nice collaboration between the melting and alloying: the heat released from the exothermic alloying reactions facilitates the local melting in the respective Ni/Al bilayer; the liquid films from the local melting accelerate the exothermic alloying reactions. On the other hand, we uncover a keen competition between the melting and alloying from the overall pressure variation: the structural expansion upon melting leads to an increase of the pressure while the alloying reactions tend to decrease the pressure.