Formation of a metastable phase due to the presence of impurities

Abstract

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.

10 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (1)

• Heterogeneous nucleation near a metastable vapour-liquid transition: the effect of wetting transitions

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Phase transitions in fluctuations and their role in two-step nucleation
• Do hierarchical structures assemble best via hierarchical pathways?
• Competitive nucleation and the Ostwald rule in a generalized Potts model with multiple metastable phases
• Competitive Heterogeneous Nucleation onto a Microscopic Impurity in a Potts Model