Description of melting of nano-sized aluminum samples

A new physicomathematical model is proposed for describing the process of melting of nano-sized aluminum samples, which takes into account the dependences of thermophysical variables on the temperature and particle size obtained by the molecular dynamics method. The study is performed for samples with spherical, cylindrical, and plane symmetry. The times of melting of aluminum nanoparticles are found as functions of the nanoparticle radius and ambient temperature. Two-front melting modes are observed for the first time; these modes are the result of the scale factor in the dependence of the melting temperature on the particle size.