Eur. Phys. J. B (2016) 89: 154
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2016-70140-5

Regular Article

A new criterion for melting of nanostructures of arbitrary shapes

¹ Department of Physics Bandung Institute of Technology Jalan Ganeca 10, 40132 Bandung, Indonesia
² Sunan Gunung Djati State Islamic University, Jalan A.H. Nasution, Bandung, Indonesia

^a e-mail: mikrajuddin@gmail.com

Received: 6 March 2016
Received in final form: 16 April 2016
Published online: 20 June 2016

Abstract

We introduce a new and general criterion for melting as an alternative to the commonly used Lindemann criterion. Nanostructures are modeled using a zipper model and the melting process is assumed to start from the outer layer and develop towards the center layer. Melting occurs when the logarithm of the partition function per number of layers is zero. The equation shows good consistency with experimental data for the melting of thin films, nanoparticles, and nanowires. We also introduce a degree-of-freedom parameter which seems to be universal for most metals.