2005/05/06 by Richard P. Sear · 1 citation
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Material Dynamics and Properties #Theoretical and Computational Physics #cond-mat.mtrl-sci #cond-mat.stat-mech #nanoparticles nucleation surface interactions
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0953-8984/17/25/025
published as J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 17 (2005) 3997-4004. · 10 pages, 3 figures
arxiv created 2005/05/06 · openalex publication_date 2005/06/10 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Phase transitions into a new phase that is itself metastable are common; instead of the equilibrium phase nucleating, a metastable phase does so. When this occurs the system is sometimes said to be obeying Ostwald's rule. We show how this can happen when there are impurities present that reduce the barrier to heterogeneous nucleation of the metastable phase. We do so by studying a Potts lattice model using Monte Carlo simulation. Thus, which phase forms depends not only on the properties of the different phases but also on the impurities present. Understanding why systems obey Ostwald's rule may therefore require a study of the impurities present.