Size Effects of Brittle Particles in Aerosol Deposition—Molecular Dynamics Simulation

Up to now, the role of particle sizes on the impact behavior of ceramic particles in aerosol deposition not yet fully understood. Hence, with the aim to supply a more general understanding, modeling series of low strain rate compression and high-speed impact were performed by molecular dynamics on single-crystalline particles in sizes of 10-300 nm that are tuned to match mechanical properties of TiO 2 -anatase. The modeling results reveal that particles with original diameter of 25-75 nm exhibit three different impact behaviors that could be distinguished as (i) rebounding, (ii) bonding and (iii) fragmentation, depending on their initial impact velocity. In contrast, particles larger than 75 nm do not exhibit the bonding behavior. Detailed stress and strain field distributions reveal that combination of “localized inelastic deformation” along the slip systems and “shear localization” cause bonding of the small and large particles to the substrate. The analyses of associated temperature rise by the inelastic deformation revealed that heat diffusion at these small scales depend on size. Whereas small particles could reach a rather homogeneous temperature distribution, the evolved heat in the larger ones keeps rather localized to areas of highest deformation and may support deformation and the formation of dense layers in aerosol deposition.