Understanding of the Phase Transformation from Fullerite to Amorphous Carbon at the Microscopic Level
Understanding of the Phase Transformation from Fullerite to Amorphous Carbon at the Microscopic Level
We study the shock-induced phase transformation from fullerite to a dense amorphous carbon phase by tight-binding molecular dynamics. For increasing hydrostatic pressures $P$, the ${\mathrm{C}}_{60}$ cages are found to polymerize at $P<10\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GPa}$, to break at $P\ensuremath{\sim}40\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GPa}$, and to slowly collapse further at $P>40\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GPa}$. By …