1
|
Liu J, Song L, He Z, Wang S, Zhang W, Yang H, Li F, Li S, Wang J, Xiao H, Xu D, Liu Y, Wu Y, Wang JQ, Shui X, Hu YC, Shang J, Li RW. Size Dependent Phase Transformation of Liquid Gallium. SMALL (WEINHEIM AN DER BERGSTRASSE, GERMANY) 2024; 20:e2305798. [PMID: 37849041 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202305798] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2023] [Revised: 10/08/2023] [Indexed: 10/19/2023]
Abstract
As the most popular liquid metal (LM), gallium (Ga) and its alloys are emerging as functional materials due to their unique combination of fluidic and metallic properties near room temperature. As an important branch of utilizing LMs, micro- and submicron-particles of Ga-based LM are widely employed in wearable electronics, catalysis, energy, and biomedicine. Meanwhile, the phase transition is crucial not only for the applications based on this reversible transformation process, but also for the solidification temperature at which fluid properties are lost. While Ga has several solid phases and exhibits unusual size-dependent phase behavior. This complex process makes the phase transition and undercooling of Ga uncontrollable, which considerably affects the application performance. In this work, extensive (nano-)calorimetry experiments are performed to investigate the polymorph selection mechanism during liquid Ga crystallization. It is surprisingly found that the crystallization temperature and crystallization pathway to either α -Ga or β -Ga can be effectively engineered by thermal treatment and droplet size. The polymorph selection process is suggested to be highly relevant to the capability of forming covalent bonds in the equilibrium supercooled liquid. The observation of two different crystallization pathways depending on the annealing temperature may indicate that there exist two different liquid phases in Ga.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jinyun Liu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Application Technology, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201, P. R. China
- School of Future Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P. R. China
- Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P. R. China
| | - Lijian Song
- CAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Application Technology, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201, P. R. China
| | - Zidong He
- CAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Application Technology, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201, P. R. China
- Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P. R. China
| | - Shengding Wang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Application Technology, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201, P. R. China
| | - Wuxu Zhang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Application Technology, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201, P. R. China
- Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P. R. China
| | - Huali Yang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Application Technology, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201, P. R. China
| | - Fali Li
- CAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Application Technology, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201, P. R. China
| | - Shengbin Li
- CAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Application Technology, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201, P. R. China
| | - Jianing Wang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Application Technology, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201, P. R. China
- Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P. R. China
| | - Huiyun Xiao
- CAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Application Technology, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201, P. R. China
- Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P. R. China
| | - Dan Xu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Application Technology, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201, P. R. China
- Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P. R. China
| | - Yiwei Liu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Application Technology, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201, P. R. China
| | - Yuanzhao Wu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Application Technology, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201, P. R. China
| | - Jun-Qiang Wang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Application Technology, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201, P. R. China
| | - Xiaoxue Shui
- CAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Application Technology, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201, P. R. China
| | - Yuan-Chao Hu
- Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Dongguan, Guangdong, 523808, P. R. China
| | - Jie Shang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Application Technology, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201, P. R. China
| | - Run-Wei Li
- CAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Application Technology, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201, P. R. China
- School of Future Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P. R. China
- Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P. R. China
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Tang J, Wen X, Zhang Z, Wang D, Huang X, Wang Y. Influence of friction on the packing efficiency and short-to-intermediate range structure of hard-sphere systems. J Chem Phys 2023; 159:194901. [PMID: 37966007 DOI: 10.1063/5.0175513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2023] [Accepted: 10/25/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Using particle-resolved computer simulations, we investigate the effect of friction on the packing structure of hard-sphere mixtures with two kinds of particles under external compression. We first show that increasing friction between the particles results in a more disordered and less efficient packing of the local structure on the nearest neighbor scale. It is also found that standard two-point correlation functions, i.e., radial distribution function and static structure factor, show basically no detectable changes beyond short-range distances upon varying inter-particle friction. Further analysis of the structure using a four-point correlation method reveals that these systems have on the intermediate-range scale a three-dimensional structure with an icosahedral/dodecahedral symmetry that exhibits a pronounced dependence on friction: small friction gives rise to an orientational order that extends to larger distances. Our results also demonstrate that composition plays a role in that the degree of structural order and the structural correlation length are mainly affected by the friction coefficients associated with the more abundant species.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jiajun Tang
- College of Mathematics and Physics, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
| | - Xiaohui Wen
- College of Mathematics and Physics, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
| | - Zhen Zhang
- College of Mathematics and Physics, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
| | - Deyin Wang
- College of Mathematics and Physics, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
- School of Physics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
| | - Xinbiao Huang
- College of Mathematics and Physics, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
| | - Yujie Wang
- College of Mathematics and Physics, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
- State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
- School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Zhang Q, Li J, Wang Z, Wang J. Controlling polymorph selection during nucleation by tuning the structure of metallic melts. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2023; 25:25480-25491. [PMID: 37712292 DOI: 10.1039/d3cp02837b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/16/2023]
Abstract
Controlling the polymorphism of crystals is crucial to the design of novel metallic materials with specific properties; however, the atomistic mechanism underlying polymorph selection during crystallization remains unclear. In this work, molecular dynamics simulations combined with well-tempered metadynamics simulations are employed to explore the atomic mechanisms of polymorph selection during the nucleation process of FCC aluminum and copper. Simulation results suggest that the distinct nucleation pathways of both FCC metals originate from different free-energy surfaces of nucleation processes and diverse symmetries of nucleation precursors. The initially forming phase from undercooled melts is most likely to be the one that has the symmetry closest to the precursors. Besides, tiny seeds with diverse crystal symmetries could induce the formation of preordered precursors for nucleation around the seed, leading to the reduction of free-energy barrier and thus the promotion of nucleation. Controlling polymorph selection with tiny seeds is realized by tuning the symmetry of precursors. Our findings not only shed significant light on understanding polymorph selection, but also provide theoretical guidance for better controlling the nucleation pathway in practice.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Qi Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, P. R. China.
| | - Junjie Li
- State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, P. R. China.
| | - Zhijun Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, P. R. China.
| | - Jincheng Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, P. R. China.
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Gomaa HM, Saudi H, Yahia I, Zahran H, Makram B. Effects of Ce2O3 on multi-component borovanadate glass structural, optical, and attenuation characteristics. Radiat Phys Chem Oxf Engl 1993 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.radphyschem.2023.110847] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/24/2023]
|
5
|
Chu W, Yu J, Ren N, Wang Z, Hu L. A fractal structural feature related to dynamic crossover in metallic glass-forming liquids. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2023; 25:4151-4160. [PMID: 36655679 DOI: 10.1039/d2cp04840j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
The dynamic crossover in supercooled liquids initially predicted by model coupling theory has been widely accepted, but its underlying structural origin is still an open issue for glass-forming liquids. By molecular dynamics simulations of binary CuZr liquids, the present work verifies that high pressure could enhance this crossover, facilitating the studies on the structural features at the crossover temperature Tc. We discover that the topological connectivity of icosahedral clusters is responsible for this dynamic crossover, rather than all clusters. Tc is the temperature at which the connectivity degree between these clusters reaches a maximum and the dynamic heterogeneity begins to keep stable. Below Tc, the fractal topological structures appear in the medium-range order scale. The icosahedral clusters with a certain connectivity pattern can be regarded as a fractal structural unit. By employing the established fractal analysis method, the fractal dimension D of the icosahedral network is calculated. Our results indicate that the D value increases monotonically with increasing pressure and the fractal behavior of the icosahedral network is an inherent feature of metallic glasses. We also find similar fractal behavior in clusters with high local five-fold symmetry. Our findings shed light on the origin of a dynamic crossover in the deep supercooled region of metallic glasses and also demonstrate the important role of icosahedral clusters in uncovering the fractal behavior of metallic glass.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Wei Chu
- Key Laboratory for Liquid-Solid Structural Evolution and Processing of Materials (Ministry of Education), Shandong University, Jinan, 250061, China
| | - Jinhua Yu
- Key Laboratory for Liquid-Solid Structural Evolution and Processing of Materials (Ministry of Education), Shandong University, Jinan, 250061, China
| | - Nannan Ren
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Anhui University of Technology, Ma'anshan, 243032, Anhui Provence, China
| | - Zheng Wang
- Key Laboratory for Liquid-Solid Structural Evolution and Processing of Materials (Ministry of Education), Shandong University, Jinan, 250061, China
| | - Lina Hu
- Key Laboratory for Liquid-Solid Structural Evolution and Processing of Materials (Ministry of Education), Shandong University, Jinan, 250061, China
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Martínez-Fernández D, Herranz M, Foteinopoulou K, Karayiannis NC, Laso M. Local and Global Order in Dense Packings of Semi-Flexible Polymers of Hard Spheres. Polymers (Basel) 2023; 15:polym15030551. [PMID: 36771852 PMCID: PMC9919756 DOI: 10.3390/polym15030551] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2022] [Revised: 01/16/2023] [Accepted: 01/17/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
The local and global order in dense packings of linear, semi-flexible polymers of tangent hard spheres are studied by employing extensive Monte Carlo simulations at increasing volume fractions. The chain stiffness is controlled by a tunable harmonic potential for the bending angle, whose intensity dictates the rigidity of the polymer backbone as a function of the bending constant and equilibrium angle. The studied angles range between acute and obtuse ones, reaching the limit of rod-like polymers. We analyze how the packing density and chain stiffness affect the chains' ability to self-organize at the local and global levels. The former corresponds to crystallinity, as quantified by the Characteristic Crystallographic Element (CCE) norm descriptor, while the latter is computed through the scalar orientational order parameter. In all cases, we identify the critical volume fraction for the phase transition and gauge the established crystal morphologies, developing a complete phase diagram as a function of packing density and equilibrium bending angle. A plethora of structures are obtained, ranging between random hexagonal closed packed morphologies of mixed character and almost perfect face centered cubic (FCC) and hexagonal close-packed (HCP) crystals at the level of monomers, and nematic mesophases, with prolate and oblate mesogens at the level of chains. For rod-like chains, a delay is observed between the establishment of the long-range nematic order and crystallization as a function of the packing density, while for right-angle chains, both transitions are synchronized. A comparison is also provided against the analogous packings of monomeric and fully flexible chains of hard spheres.
Collapse
|
7
|
Hu YC, Tanaka H. Revealing the role of liquid preordering in crystallisation of supercooled liquids. Nat Commun 2022; 13:4519. [PMID: 35927419 PMCID: PMC9352720 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32241-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Accepted: 07/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The recent discovery of non-classical crystal nucleation pathways has revealed the role of fluctuations in the liquid structural order, not considered in classical nucleation theory. On the other hand, classical crystal growth theory states that crystal growth is independent of interfacial energy, but this is questionable. Here we elucidate the role of liquid structural ordering in crystal nucleation and growth using computer simulations of supercooled liquids. We find that suppressing the crystal-like structural order in the supercooled liquid through a new order-killing strategy can reduce the crystallisation rate by several orders of magnitude. This indicates that crystal-like liquid preordering and the associated interfacial energy reduction play an essential role in nucleation and growth processes, forcing critical modifications of the classical crystal growth theory. Furthermore, we evaluate the importance of this additional factor for different types of liquids. These findings shed new light on the fundamental understanding of crystal growth kinetics.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yuan-Chao Hu
- Department of Fundamental Engineering, Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 153-8505, Japan
| | - Hajime Tanaka
- Department of Fundamental Engineering, Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 153-8505, Japan. .,Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 153-8904, Japan.
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Crystal nucleation and growth processes in Cu-rich glass-forming Cu-Zr alloys . J Chem Phys 2022; 157:014506. [DOI: 10.1063/5.0097023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The glass formation ability of an alloy depends on two competing processes: glass-transition on one hand, crystal nucleation and growth on the other hand. While these phenomena have been widely studied before in nearly equiatomic Cu-Zr alloys, studies are lacking for solute/solvent-rich ones. In the present work, molecular dynamics simulations show that the addition of a small amount of Zr (1-10 at. %) to Cu drastically increases incubation time and slows down crystal growth, thus leading to an improved glass forming ability. The crystal nucleation and growth processes of a competing face-centered cubic (FCC) Cu crystalline phase are analyzed in detail. In particular, the values of critical cooling rate, incubation period for crystallization and growth rate of FCC Cu crystals in these Cu-rich alloys are obtained. The growth of a supersaturated FCC Cu solid solution is found to be polymorphic at the interface (except for alloys with 9 and 10 at. % Zr) though a Zr concentration gradient is observed within growing crystals at high enough Zr content. The crystal growth rate before crystal impingement is nearly constant in all alloys, though it decreases exponentially with Zr content. Crystallization kinetics are also analyzed within the existing theories and compared with the experimental values available in the literature.
Collapse
|
9
|
Unsupervised topological learning approach of crystal nucleation. Sci Rep 2022; 12:3195. [PMID: 35210485 PMCID: PMC8873400 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-06963-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2021] [Accepted: 01/27/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Nucleation phenomena commonly observed in our every day life are of fundamental, technological and societal importance in many areas, but some of their most intimate mechanisms remain however to be unravelled. Crystal nucleation, the early stages where the liquid-to-solid transition occurs upon undercooling, initiates at the atomic level on nanometre length and sub-picoseconds time scales and involves complex multidimensional mechanisms with local symmetry breaking that can hardly be observed experimentally in the very details. To reveal their structural features in simulations without a priori, an unsupervised learning approach founded on topological descriptors loaned from persistent homology concepts is proposed. Applied here to monatomic metals, it shows that both translational and orientational ordering always come into play simultaneously as a result of the strong bonding when homogeneous nucleation starts in regions with low five-fold symmetry. It also reveals the specificity of the nucleation pathways depending on the element considered, with features beyond the hypothesis of Classical Nucleation Theory.
Collapse
|
10
|
Jiang Y, Lv J, He W, Peng P. Lowest-energy structural and electronic properties of Cu Zr13− (n = 3–10) clusters in metallic glasses via CALYPSO search and density functional theory calculations. J Mol Liq 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.molliq.2021.117603] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
|
11
|
Engineering of Novel Fe-Based Bulk Metallic Glasses Using a Machine Learning-Based Approach. ARABIAN JOURNAL FOR SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s13369-021-05966-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
|
12
|
Nonclassical Nucleation—Role of Metastable Intermediate Phase in Crystal Nucleation: An Editorial Prefix. CRYSTALS 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/cryst11020174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Classical nucleation theory (CNT), which was established about 90 years ago, represents the most commonly used theory in describing nucleation processes. For a fluid-to-solid phase transition, CNT states that the solutes in a supersaturated solution reversibly form small clusters. Once a cluster reaches its critical size, it becomes thermodynamically stable and is favored for further growth. One of the most important assumptions of CNT is that the nucleation process is described by one reaction coordinate and all order parameters proceed simultaneously. Recent studies in experiments, computer simulations, and theory have revealed nonclassical features in the early stage of nucleation. In particular, the decoupling of order parameters involved during a fluid-to-solid transition leads to the so-called two-step nucleation mechanism, in which a metastable intermediate phase (MIP) exists in parallel to the initial supersaturated solution and the final crystals. These MIPs can be high-density liquid phases, mesoscopic clusters, or preordered states. In this Special Issue, we focus on the role of the various MIPs in the early stage of crystal nucleation of organic materials, metals and alloys, aqueous solutions, minerals, colloids, and proteins, and thus on various scenarios of nonclassical pathways of crystallization.
Collapse
|