Structural transformation between bcc and fcc in Fe-Ni nanoparticle during heating process

Phase transformation between bcc and fcc in Fe-Ni nanoparticle has been studied by using molecular dynamics simulation with an embedded atom method. The transformation has been explored by designing the nanoparticles with different initial structures, sizes and elemental distributions at various Ni concentrations. The results show that the structural transformation is strongly related to the Ni content and elemental distribution. Initial fcc structure transforms to bcc for a lower Ni content and bcc transforms to fcc for a higher Ni content. The transformation is accompanied with a sharp reduction in energy even for the nanoparticle with a large size. Furthermore, lattice distortion first occurs before the transformation. The transformation from fcc to bcc is occurred by elongating fcc (100) to bcc (110) and that from bcc to fcc by compressing bcc (110) to fcc (100). The reason is that the nanoparticle has a low energy state for bcc structure with a lower Ni content and also for fcc structure with a higher Ni content. The coexistence of bcc and fcc phases appears with the change of elemental distribution.