Effects of Colliding Particle Size and Velocity on Mechanical Properties of AZ31 after Surface Mechanical Attrition Treatment: Molecular Dynamics Simulation

In this study, the molecular dynamics method is used to simulate the SMAT process in the AZ31 workpiece. Molecular dynamics calculations in LAMMPS software have been used to investigate the effect of size, number, and velocity parameters of carbon steel particles on the mechanical and physical properties of the surface including residual stress, hardness, and surface roughness in AZ31 matrix has been investigated at the atomic scale. The simulation results during the SMAT process show that the residual stress in the AZ31 matrix increases with increasing the diameter of carbon steel particles and the particle velocity in the SMAT process has a significant effect on improving the mechanical properties of the simulated magnesium matrix. The highest residual stress and the largest increase in Vickers hardness in the SMAT process were calculated for the largest colliding particle. The maximum surface temperature of AZ31 decreases after SMAT with the increasing size of carbon steel particles. The results show that the roughness parameter increases with increasing colliding particle size.