Crystal-crystal phase transformation via surface-induced virtual premelting

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Crystal-crystal phase transformation via surface-induced virtual premelting

Valery I. Levitas, Zhaohui Ren, Yuewu Zeng, Ze Zhang, and Gaorong Han

Phys. Rev. B 85, 220104(R) – Published 29 June 2012

Abstract

A mechanism for crystal-crystal phase transformations (PTs) via surface-induced virtual premelting is justified thermodynamically and confirmed experimentally for the PTs in PbTiO $_{3}$ nanofibers. When the thickness of the surface melt (which appears much below the melting temperature, especially for nano-objects) exceeds the size of the critical product nucleus, nucleation and growth of the product crystal occur. For nanowires, premelting starts near the smallest size, and hydrodynamic flow driven by reduction in the external surface leads to a large change in shape and further promotion of crystal-crystal PT. During the product crystal-growth stage, virtual melting is observed experimentally within the crystal-crystal interface.

Received 28 February 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.85.220104

Authors & Affiliations

Valery I. Levitas^1,*, Zhaohui Ren², Yuewu Zeng^2,3, Ze Zhang^2,3, and Gaorong Han^2,*

¹Departments of Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Material Science and Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA
²State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cyrus Tang Centre for Sensor Materials and Applications, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People's Republic of China
³Center of Electron Microscope of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People's Republic of China

^*To whom correspondence should be addressed: vlevitas@iastate.edu and hgr@zju.edu.cn

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Issue

Vol. 85, Iss. 22 — 1 June 2012

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Physical Review B

covering condensed matter and materials physics