Aluminium interatomic potential from density functional theory calculations with improved stacking fault energy

A new Al potential with improved stacking fault energy is constructed using the force-matching method. The potential is fitted to an ab initio forces database and various experimental data. By using a slightly larger cut-off, we found that the new potential gives the relaxed stacking fault energy in the experimental range without changing the excellent thermal and surface properties of the original force-matching Al potential given by Ercolessi and Adams (1994 Europhys. Lett. 26 583).