In order to establish a link between various structural and kinetic properties of metals and the crystal–melt interfacial mobility, free-solidification molecular-dynamics simulations were performed for a total of nine embedded atom method interatomic potentials describing pure Al, Cu and Ni. To fully explore the space of materials properties three new potentials were developed. The new potentials were based on a previous description of Al, but in each case the liquid structure, the melting point and/or the latent heat were varied considerably. The kinetic coefficient, μ, for all systems was compared with several theoretical predictions. It was found that at temperatures close to the melting point the magnitude of μ correlates well with the value of the diffusion coefficient in the liquid.

Molecular-Dynamics Study of Solid–Liquid Interface Migration in FCC Metals. M.I.Mendelev, M.J.Rahman, J.J.Hoyt, M.Asta: Modelling and Simulation in Materials Science and Engineering, 2010, 18[7], 074002