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Related Concept Videos

Phase Transitions: Melting and Freezing02:39

Phase Transitions: Melting and Freezing

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Heating a crystalline solid increases the average energy of its atoms, molecules, or ions, and the solid gets hotter. At some point, the added energy becomes large enough to partially overcome the forces holding the molecules or ions of the solid in their fixed positions, and the solid begins the process of transitioning to the liquid state or melting. At this point, the temperature of the solid stops rising, despite the continual input of heat, and it remains constant until all of the solid is...
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The physical form of a substance changes on changing its temperature. For example, raising the temperature of a liquid causes the liquid to vaporize (convert into vapor). The process is called vaporization—a surface phenomenon. Vaporization occurs when the thermal motion of the molecules overcome the intermolecular forces, and the molecules (at the surface) escape into the gaseous state. When a liquid vaporizes in a closed container, gas molecules cannot escape. As these gas phase molecules...
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Phase Transitions

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Whether solid, liquid, or gas, a substance's state depends on the order and arrangement of its particles (atoms, molecules, or ions). Particles in the solid pack closely together, generally in a pattern. The particles vibrate about their fixed positions but do not move or squeeze past their neighbors. In liquids, although the particles are closely spaced, they are randomly arranged. The position of the particles are not fixed—that is, they are free to move past their neighbors to...
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Recrystallization is a purification technique used to separate impurities from solid compounds. In this technique, no chemical reactions occur. Instead, it exploits physical properties only, specifically, the solubility differences between the desired compound and impurities, either at a single temperature or at different temperatures, and under other selected conditions. The solid-solution equilibrium (solubility equilibrium) of each component in the solution represents a binary phase...
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Some solids can transition directly into the gaseous state, bypassing the liquid state, via a process known as sublimation. At room temperature and standard pressure, a piece of dry ice (solid CO2) sublimes, appearing to gradually disappear without ever forming any liquid. Snow and ice sublimate at temperatures below the melting point of water, a slow process that may be accelerated by winds and the reduced atmospheric pressures at high altitudes. When solid iodine is warmed, the solid sublimes...
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Crystallization is a phase transformation process in which crystals are precipitated from a supersaturated solution or formed from other sources. During crystallization, atoms or molecules arrange themselves into a well-defined, rigid crystal lattice to minimize energy.
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Revealing thermally-activated nucleation pathways of diffusionless solid-to-solid transition.

Minhuan Li1, Zhengyuan Yue1, Yanshuang Chen1

  • 1State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.

Nature Communications
|July 1, 2021
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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

This study reveals new solid-to-solid transition pathways in crystals, showing that both athermal and thermally-activated nucleation depend on crystal softness. These findings offer insights into controlling phase transitions.

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Area of Science:

  • Materials Science
  • Crystallography
  • Soft Matter Physics

Background:

  • Solid-to-solid transitions typically occur via athermal nucleation on defects due to high strain energy.
  • The persistence of athermal nucleation under low strain and the possibility of thermally-activated nucleation remain largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the dynamics of solid-to-solid transformations under varying strain energies.
  • To determine the influence of parent crystal softness on nucleation pathways.
  • To identify novel transition mechanisms in crystalline systems.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a charged colloidal system to induce and observe face-centered cubic (fcc) to body-centered cubic (bcc) transitions.
  • Employed in-situ single-particle-level observation to track transformation dynamics microscopically.
  • Manipulated crystal softness to control nucleation pathways.

Main Results:

  • Experimentally demonstrated that both athermal and thermally-activated nucleation pathways are controlled by parent crystal softness.
  • Discovered three novel transition pathways: ingrain homogeneous nucleation, heterogeneous nucleation at premelting grain boundaries, and wall-assisted growth.
  • Established a link between system-dependent pathway selection and the parent phase's properties.

Conclusions:

  • The study elucidates the physical principles governing pathway selection in solid-to-solid transitions.
  • Parent crystal softness and its defect landscape are critical factors in controlling transition mechanisms.
  • Findings provide a basis for manipulating solid-to-solid transitions through material design.