Nucleation and Growth of an Ensemble of Crystals during the Intermediate Stage of a Phase Transition in Metastable Liquids

Abstract

In this paper, an analytical method of solving the integro-differential system of kinetic and balance equations describing the evolution of an ensemble of crystals during the intermediate phase of the bulk crystallization process is described. The theory is developed for kinetic equations of the first- and second order corresponding to the absence and presence of fluctuations in particle growth rates. The crystal-size distribution function as well as the dynamics of metastability reduction in a supercooled melt (supersaturated solution) are analytically found using the saddle-point and the Laplace transform methods. The theory enables us to obtain the crystal-size distribution function that establishes in a supercooled (supersaturated) liquid at the beginning of the final stage of a phase transformation process when Ostwald ripening, coagulation and fragmentation of crystals are able to occur.