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Reentrant Adhesion Behavior in Nanocluster Deposition

A. Awasthi·S. C. Hendy·P. Zoontjens·S. A. Brown
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Abstract

We simulate the collision of atomic clusters with a weakly attractive surface using molecular dynamics in a regime between soft-landing and fragmentation, where the cluster undergoes large deformation but remains intact. As a function of incident kinetic energy, we find a transition from adhesion to reflection at low kinetic energies. We also identify a second adhesive regime at intermediate kinetic energies, where strong deformation of the cluster leads to an increase in contact area and adhesive energy.

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A. Awasthi, S. C. Hendy, P. Zoontjens, S. A. Brown. 2006-11-02. Reentrant Adhesion Behavior in Nanocluster Deposition. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.97.186103

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