Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to investigate the structural phase transition in body-centered cubic (bcc) single crystal iron under high strain rate loading. We study the nucleation and growth of the hexagonal-close-packed (hcp) and face-centered-cubic (fcc)

By classical molecular dynamics simulations employing an embedded atom method potential, we have simulated the bcc to hcp/fcc structural transition in single-crystal iron under uniform compression. Results showed that the transition pressure is different from uniaxial compression and shock loading. The transformation occurs on a picosecond timescale and the transition time decreases along with the increase of pressure. The nucleation and growth of the hcp and fcc phases under constant pressure and temperature are analyzed in detail. The nucleation planes, all belonging to the {110}(bcc) family and parallel to the three compression directions [100], [010], and [001], have been observed. About 20% bcc atoms have transformed to fcc phase under pressure just over the critical point, and under higher pressure the fraction of the fcc phase increases steadily to exceed that of the hcp phase. We have investigated the transition mechanism of iron from initial bcc to hcp/fcc and found that the transition mainly consists of compression, rotation, and shuffle.