Computer simulations of the structures of the metallic superlattices Au/Ni and Cu/Ni and their elastic moduli

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Abstract
The atomic structures of the FCC/FCC metallic superlattices Au/Ni and Cu/Ni were simulated by the molecular dynamics method, which Morse potentials were used as the interatomic potentials. In contrast to the other previous studies, the authors have treated here incoherent realistic structural models. The simulated structures were used to calculate the Young's modulus along the FCC (111) direction, YY(111), and the biaxial modulus, Yb(111). The biaxial moduli for Au/Ni and Cu/Ni were compared with the experimental results and it is shown that the enhancement of elastic moduli can be well reproduced qualitatively by the authors' incoherent models. The enhancement of elastic moduli can be ascribed to the existence of periodic strain in the multi-layered films.