Molecular dynamics analyses of an Al(110) surface

This paper presents classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of an aluminum slab under a premelting condition. The aluminum surface is set at the (110) orientation. We have used a simple analytical form of an embedded-atom-method (EAM) potential to describe the inter-atomic interactions of the aluminum atoms. The results from our study are compared with those reported by Schommers. The pair correlation function is examined at different temperatures in order to analyze the trends for possible resemblance with Schommers results. The difference in the trends has confirmed that the use of the EAM potential resulted in the occurrence of the premelting condition at a lower temperature than the reported results obtained using the pseudopotential model. The surface melting process is also compared with other works for a better understanding of the effect of the EAM model on premelting of the Al(110) surface.