Abstract
Liquid metal embrittlement in Al-Ga system is studied using molecular dynamics simulations. Crack tip opening loads are exerted on symmetric tilt Al bicrystals in the presence of liquid Ga. In general, the speed of crack propagation increases in the presence of Ga, however, the dynamic behavior in different boundaries is significantly different. We observe the formation of a subgrain by grain boundary splitting (grain boundary phase transformation) in and grain boundaries; this results in crack blunting even in the presence of Ga. In thetwin, the absence of alternating compressive-tensile stresses present in other boundaries result in fast Ga penetration after the crack path is formed. The structure of grain boundaries apart from thermodynamic considerations significantly affects liquid metal embrittlement.
