Homogeneous Nucleation Catastrophe as a Kinetic Stability Limit for Superheated Crystal
1998; American Physical Society; Volume: 80; Issue: 20 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1103/physrevlett.80.4474
ISSN1092-0145
Autores Tópico(s)Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics
ResumoHomogeneous nucleation kinetics for melting in superheated crystals is analyzed in order to derive a kinetic stability limit for the crystal lattice above its equilibrium melting point $({T}_{m})$. It is found that at a critical temperature ( ${T}_{m}^{K}$, which is about ${1.2T}_{m}$ for various elemental metals) a massive homogeneous nucleation of melting occurs in the superheated crystal. Such a homogeneous nucleation catastrophe, which occurs before other proposed (rigidity, volume, and entropy) catastrophes can intervene, provides us with a kinetic stability limit for superheated crystals.
Referência(s)