skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Metastable–solid phase diagrams derived from polymorphic solidification kinetics

Journal Article · · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Nonequilibrium processes during solidification can lead to kinetic stabilization of metastable crystal phases. A general framework for predicting the solidification conditions that lead to metastable-phase growth is developed and applied to a model face-centered cubic (fcc) metal that undergoes phase transitions to the body-centered cubic (bcc) as well as the hexagonal close-packed phases at high temperatures and pressures. Large-scale molecular dynamics simulations of ultrarapid freezing show that bcc nucleates and grows well outside of the region of its thermodynamic stability. An extensive study of crystal–liquid equilibria confirms that at any given pressure, there is a multitude of metastable solid phases that can coexist with the liquid phase. We define for every crystal phase, a solid cluster in liquid (SCL) basin, which contains all solid clusters of that phase coexisting with the liquid. Additionally, a rigorous methodology is developed that allows for practical calculations of nucleation rates into arbitrary SCL basins from the undercooled melt. It is demonstrated that at large undercoolings, phase selections made during the nucleation stage can be undone by kinetic instabilities amid the growth stage. On these bases, a solidification–kinetic phase diagram is drawn for the model fcc system that delimits the conditions for macroscopic grains of metastable bcc phase to grow from the melt. We conclude with a study of unconventional interfacial kinetics at special interfaces, which can bring about heterogeneous multiphase crystal growth. A first-order interfacial phase transformation accompanied by a growth-mode transition is examined.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1825857
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-805508; 1010380; TRN: US2215850
Journal Information:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 118, Issue 9; ISSN 0027-8424
Publisher:
National Academy of SciencesCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (61)

Controlling Polymorphism during the Crystallization of an Atomic Fluid journal June 2007
Direct Calculation of the Crystal−Melt Interfacial Free Energy via Molecular Dynamics Computer Simulation journal September 2005
Crystal nucleation in a three‐dimensional Lennard‐Jones system. II. Nucleation kinetics for 256 and 500 particles journal April 1977
Long-Lived Metastable bcc Phase during Ordering of Micelles journal December 2004
10 6 -particle molecular-dynamics study of homogeneous nucleation of crystals in a supercooled atomic liquid journal April 1990
Seeding approach to crystal nucleation journal January 2016
Compression Freezing Kinetics of Water to Ice VII journal July 2017
Visualizing kinetic pathways of homogeneous nucleation in colloidal crystallization journal December 2013
Molecular dynamics study of melting and freezing of small Lennard-Jones clusters journal September 1987
Numerical Evidence for bcc Ordering at the Surface of a Critical fcc Nucleus journal October 1995
Determination of the solid-liquid interfacial free energy along a coexistence line by Gibbs–Cahn integration journal September 2009
A Liouville-operator derived measure-preserving integrator for molecular dynamics simulations in the isothermal–isobaric ensemble journal April 2006
Crystallization pathways of liquid-bcc transition for a model iron by fast quenching journal November 2015
Kinetics of disorder-to-fcc phase transition via an intermediate bcc state journal June 2006
A structural model for the solid-liquid interface in monatomic systems journal June 1975
Fast Parallel Algorithms for Short-Range Molecular Dynamics journal March 1995
Numerical prediction of absolute crystallization rates in hard-sphere colloids journal February 2004
Computer simulation study of free energy barriers in crystal nucleation journal March 1992
Nanosecond Freezing of Water at High Pressures: Nucleation and Growth near the Metastability Limit journal October 2018
Molecular-Dynamics Investigation of Deeply Quenched Liquids journal June 1988
Monte Carlo free energy estimates using non-Boltzmann sampling: Application to the sub-critical Lennard-Jones fluid journal October 1974
Current concepts in crystal growth from the melt journal January 1967
Structural stability and lattice defects in copper: Ab initio , tight-binding, and embedded-atom calculations journal May 2001
Freezing kinetics in overcompressed water journal May 2007
Containerless Undercooling and Solidification of Pure Metals journal August 1991
Isothermal–isobaric computer simulations of melting and crystallization of a Lennard‐Jones system journal February 1986
Direct Determination of Metastable Phase Diagram by Synchrotron Radiation Experiments on Undercooled Metallic Melts journal February 2001
Interplay between Structure and Size in a Critical Crystal Nucleus journal June 2005
Formation of a crystal nucleus from liquid journal July 2010
Formation of Crystal Nuclei in Liquid Metals journal October 1950
Crystal Structure and Interaction Dependence of the Crystal-Melt Interfacial Free Energy journal March 2005
A super-Earth transiting a nearby low-mass star journal December 2009
Homogeneous Ice Nucleation at Moderate Supercooling from Molecular Simulation journal September 2013
Ginzburg-Landau-Type Multiphase Field Model for Competing fcc and bcc Nucleation journal January 2011
Crystal-melt interfacial free energies in metals: fcc versus bcc journal January 2004
A metastable limit for compressed liquid water journal March 2007
Calculation of solid-liquid interfacial free energy: A classical nucleation theory based approach journal March 2006
Nucleation of a Stable Solid from Melt in the Presence of Multiple Metastable Intermediate Phases: Wetting, Ostwald’s Step Rule, and Vanishing Polymorphs journal June 2013
Bond-orientational order in liquids and glasses journal July 1983
Time-dependent freezing of water under dynamic compression journal June 2003
Non-Equilibrium Solidification of Undercooled Metallic Melts journal June 2014
Structure identification methods for atomistic simulations of crystalline materials journal May 2012
Polymorphic transitions in single crystals: A new molecular dynamics method journal December 1981
Should All Crystals Be bcc? Landau Theory of Solidification and Crystal Nucleation journal September 1978
Visualization and analysis of atomistic simulation data with OVITO–the Open Visualization Tool journal December 2009
Nanosecond freezing of water under multiple shock wave compression: Optical transmission and imaging measurements journal November 2004
Extraction of effective solid-liquid interfacial free energies for full 3D solid crystallites from equilibrium MD simulations journal November 2017
Systematic analysis of local atomic structure combined with 3D computer graphics journal March 1994
The thermodynamics of a liquid-solid interface at extreme conditions: A model close-packed system up to 100 GPa journal September 2018
Solidification and melting of high temperature materials: in situ observations by synchrotron radiation journal December 2011
Why all crystals need not be bcc: Symmetry breaking at the liquid-solid transition revisited journal May 1999
Crystal nucleation in undercooled liquid zirconium journal December 2009
Rapid estimation of elastic constants by molecular dynamics simulation under constant stress journal April 2004
Numerical calculation of the rate of crystal nucleation in a Lennard‐Jones system at moderate undercooling journal June 1996
Existence and forming mechanism of metastable phase in crystallization journal September 2016
Constant pressure molecular dynamics algorithms journal September 1994
bcc Symmetry in the Crystal-Melt Interface of Lennard-Jones Fluids Examined through Density Functional Theory journal October 1996
Formation of an fcc phase through a bcc metastable state in crystallization of charged colloidal particles journal July 2010
Kinetic Pathways and Mechanisms of Two-Step Nucleation in Crystallization journal November 2016
Studien über die Bildung und Umwandlung fester Körper journal January 1897
Keimbildungsgeschwindigkeit und OSTWALDsche Stufenregel journal January 1933

Similar Records

Molecular dynamics simulation of the solid-liquid interface migration in terbium
Journal Article · Tue Jun 05 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Journal of Chemical Physics · OSTI ID:1825857

Nucleation and phase selection in undercooled Fe-Cr-Ni melts. Part 2: Containerless solidification experiments
Journal Article · Sat Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 1997 · Metallurgical and Materials Transactions. A, Physical Metallurgy and Materials Science · OSTI ID:1825857

Nucleation and phase selection in undercooled Fe-Cr-Ni melts. Part 1: Theoretical analysis of nucleation behavior
Journal Article · Sat Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 1997 · Metallurgical and Materials Transactions. A, Physical Metallurgy and Materials Science · OSTI ID:1825857