Evolution of the Ni-Al Janus-like Clusters under Low Energy Argon Cluster Bombardment

500 ps evolution of free Janus-like Ni-Al clusters, which consisted of 390 atoms, was simulated under argon particle bombardment using the method of classical molecular dynamics. Ar and Ar13 particles with energies from 0.1 to 1 keV were used as projectiles. Despite the almost homogeneous mixing of the components and preferential sputtering including the thermal mechanism in the resulting nanoparticle, the main trend was obtained, namely an increase in the concentration of Ni atoms in the core and Al atoms in the surface layer, which can be masked by other processes. In general, an increase in the size and energy of the argon projectile intensifies these processes and controls the distribution of the concentrations of components in the cluster.