Melting and alloying of Ni/Al nanolaminates induced by shock loading: A molecular dynamics simulation study

We demonstrate that shock-induced melting can play a key role in accelerating the initiation and propagation of self-sustained exothermic alloying reactions in nanostructured Ni/Al nanolaminates. Following a pronounced increase of the local pressure upon melting, due to structural expansion, enhanced material diffusion and intermixing around the molten regions accelerate self-sustained alloying reactions, leading to a pressure decrease. This competition between melting and alloying reactions leads to an oscillatory overall pressure as the melting and alloy formation fronts propagate.