Evolving structure–property relationships in metals with nonequilibrium concentrations of vacancies

Here, we use molecular dynamics simulations as a tool to investigate vacancy clustering in pure aluminum single crystals. A 1% superconcentration of single vacancies are randomly introduced into an otherwise perfect lattice, and the system is allowed to evolve for 500 ns at an elevated temperature of 728 K. Under these conditions, the individual vacancies rapidly agglomerate into larger clusters to reduce their overall energy. The systems are...