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Interfacial undercooling in solidification of colloidal suspensions: analyses with quantitative measurements
Jiaxue You1, Lilin Wang2, Zhijun Wang1
1State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, P.R. China.
Scientific Reports
|June 23, 2016
Summary
Interfacial undercooling in colloidal suspensions is mainly due to solute constitutional supercooling (SCS) from additives, not particulate constitutional supercooling (PCS) from particles. This clarifies pattern formation in ice-templating methods.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Physical Chemistry
- Colloid Science
Background:
- Interfacial undercooling is crucial in colloidal suspension solidification but poorly understood.
- Two proposed mechanisms: solute constitutional supercooling (SCS) and particulate constitutional supercooling (PCS).
- Quantitative data distinguishing SCS and PCS dominance is lacking.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantitatively measure static and dynamic interfacial undercoolings of SCS and PCS.
- To determine the dominant undercooling mechanism in colloidal suspension solidification.
- To clarify the physical basis of pattern formation in ice-templating.
Main Methods:
- Quantitative measurement of static and dynamic interfacial undercoolings.
- Experiments conducted on ideal and practical colloidal systems.
- Analysis of solute and particle contributions to undercooling.
Main Results:
- Interfacial undercooling is predominantly caused by SCS from solvent additives.
- Particulate constitutional supercooling (PCS) contribution is minor.
- The thermodynamic effect of particles (PCS) is not the primary driver of pattern formation.
Conclusions:
- Solute constitutional supercooling (SCS) is the dominant interfacial undercooling mechanism.
- Particulate constitutional supercooling (PCS) plays a minor role in pattern formation.
- Ice-templating patterns are effectively controlled by adjusting solvent additives, not particle interactions.
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