Figure 4. Shearing of nanoparticles due to their initial rotation tendency.

Atomic displacement map of 3 nm particles of (100)-(100) relative orientation, after 100 ps MD run of nanoparticle coalescence at 1000 K. Depicted is the final configuration; the initial one is indicated by the start of the red lines. A tendency of the two nanoparticles to rotate against each other is evident. When this was not possible, due to necking, internal stresses developed, which led to the creation of protrusions both sides of the neck.