Crystal Growth in Fluid Flow: Nonlinear Response Effects

Abstract

We investigate crystal-growth kinetics in the presence of strong shear flow in the liquid, using molecular-dynamics simulations of a binary-alloy model. Close to the equilibrium melting point, shear flow always suppresses the growth of the crystal-liquid interface. For lower temperatures, we find that the growth velocity of the crystal depends non-monotonically on the shear rate. Slow enough flow enhances the crystal growth, due to an increased particle mobility in the liquid. Stronger flow causes a growth regime that is nearly temperature-independent, in striking contrast to what one expects from the thermodynamic and equilibrium kinetic properties of the system, which both depend strongly on temperature. We rationalize these effects of flow on crystal growth as resulting from the nonlinear response of the fluid to strong shearing forces.

to appear in Phys. Rev. Materials

References in corpus (4)

• Molecular Dynamics Computer Simulation of Crystal Growth and Melting in Al50Ni50
• Crystal nucleation mechanism in melts of short polymer chains under quiescent conditions and under shear flow
• Shear induced crystallization of an amorphous system
• Shear accelerated crystallization in a supercooled atomic liquid