Abstract
Shock-induced freezing in liquids has long been a subject of interest as well as mystery. With large-scale molecular dynamics simulations, we demonstrate that homogeneous crystal nucleation in liquid Cu can be realized under effective supercooling , via quasi-isentropic compression or ramp wave loading with a particle velocity achieved within a ramp time . The simulations yield the relations for homogeneous crystallization at the spatial and temporal scales of molecular dynamics; a ramp wave loading with ps is essentially isentropic for liquid Cu. Based on classical nucleation theory, we predict , and thus , as required for homogenous nucleation in experiments with larger length and time scales. Homogeneous nucleation can also be achieved with shock loading in initially supercooled liquids.
- Received 3 March 2015
- Revised 25 June 2015
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.92.014108
©2015 American Physical Society