No Arabic abstract
By means of Raman spectroscopy of liquid microjets we have investigated the crystallization process of supercooled quantum liquid mixtures composed of parahydrogen (pH$_2$) diluted with small amounts of up to 5% of either neon or orthodeuterium (oD$_2$), and of oD$_2$ diluted with either Ne or pH$_2$. We show that the introduction of Ne impurities affects the crystallization kinetics in both the pH$_2$-Ne and oD$_2$-Ne mixtures in terms of a significant reduction of the crystal growth rate, similarly to what found in our previous work on supercooled pH$_2$-oD$_2$ liquid mixtures [M. Kuhnel et {it al.}, Phys. Rev. B textbf{89}, 180506(R) (2014)]. Our experimental results, in combination with path-integral simulations of the supercooled liquid mixtures, suggest in particular a correlation between the measured growth rates and the ratio of the effective particle sizes originating from quantum delocalization effects. We further show that the crystalline structure of the mixture is also affected to a large extent by the presence of the Ne impurities, which likely initiate the freezing process through the formation of Ne crystallites.
Freezing is a fundamental physical phenomenon that has been studied over many decades; yet the role played by surfaces in determining nucleation has remained elusive. Here we report direct computational evidence of surface induced nucleation in supercooled systems with a negative slope of their melting line (dP/dT < 0). This unexpected result is related to the density decrease occurring upon crystallization, and to surface tension facilitating the initial nucleus formation. Our findings support the hypothesis of surface induced crystallization of ice in the atmosphere, and provide insight, at the atomistic level, into nucleation mechanisms of widely used semiconductors.
A bulk metallic glass forming alloy is subjected to shear flow in its supercooled state by compression of a short rod to produce a flat disc. The resulting material exhibits enhanced crystallization kinetics during isothermal annealing as reflected in the decrease of the crystallization time relative to the non-deformed case. The transition from quiescent to shear-accelerated crystallization is linked to strain accumulated during shear flow above a critical shear rate $dotgamma_capprox 0.3$ s$^{-1}$ which corresponds to P{e}clet number, $Pesimmathcal{O}(1)$. The observation of shear accelerated crystallization in an atomic system at modest shear rates is uncommon. It is made possible here by the substantial viscosity of the supercooled liquid which increases strongly with temperature in the approach to the glass transition. We may therefore anticipate the encounter of non-trivial shear-related effects during thermoplastic deformation of similar systems.
The process of homogeneous crystal nucleation has been considered in a model liquid, where the interparticle interaction is described by a short-range spherical oscillatory potential. Mechanisms of initiating structural ordering in the liquid at various supercooling levels, including those corresponding to an amorphous state, have been determined. The sizes and shapes of formed crystal grains have been estimated statistically. The results indicate that the mechanisms of nucleation occurs throughout the entire considered temperature range. The crystallization of the system at low supercooling levels occurs through a mononuclear scenario. A high concentration of crystal nuclei formed at high supercooling levels (i.e., at temperatures comparable to and below the glass transition temperature $T_g$) creates the semblance of the presence of branched structures, which is sometimes erroneously interpreted as a signature of phase separation. The temperature dependence of the maximum concentration of crystal grains demonstrates two regimes the transition between which occurs at a temperature comparable to the glass transition temperature $T_g$.
In this work we revisit the description of dynamics based on the concepts of metabasins and activation in mildly supercooled liquids via the analysis of the dynamics of a paradigmatic glass former between its onset temperature $T_{o}$ and mode-coupling temperature $T_{c}$. First, we provide measures that demonstrate that the onset of glassiness is indeed connected to the landscape, and that metabasin waiting time distributions are so broad that the system can remain stuck in a metabasin for times that exceed $tau_alpha$ by orders of magnitude. We then reanalyze the transitions between metabasins, providing several indications that the standard picture of activated dynamics in terms of traps does not hold in this regime. Instead, we propose that here activation is principally driven by entropic instead of energetic barriers. In particular, we illustrate that activation is not controlled by the hopping of high energetic barriers, and should more properly be interpreted as the entropic selection of nearly barrierless but rare pathways connecting metabasins on the landscape.
In this paper we propose a new mathematical model describing the effect of phosphocitrate (PC) on sodium sulphate crystallization inside bricks. This model describes salt and water transport, and crystal formation in a one dimensional symmetry. This is the first study that takes into account mathematically the effects of inhibitors inside a porous stone. To this aim, we introduce two model parameters: the crystallization rate, which depends on the nucleation rate, and the specific volume of precipitated salt. These two parameters are determined by numerical calibration of our system model for both the treated and non treated case.