Cavitation in liquid metals under negative pressures. Molecular dynamics modeling and simulation

An approach to study cavitation in stretched liquids via molecular dynamics (MD) simulation is presented. It is based on the stochastic properties of MD and allows one to study cavitation as a stochastic phenomenon. The approach is used to study equation of state and stability limits of the metastable liquid phase, cavitation kinetics and dynamics properties for different temperatures. Particular examples of metals under consideration include Pb, Li and Pb(83)Li(17). Quantitative and qualitative disagreements between the classic nucleation theory estimates and the MD results are found. The Kolmogorov-Johnson-Mehl-Avrami equation is used as an alternative way to estimate cavitation rate. The two methods show good mutual agreement. Decay at a constant stretching rate is also considered.