Molecular dynamics simulations of hard sphere solidification at constant pressure.
Molecular dynamics simulations in the NPT ensemble are used to study the dynamics of crystallization processes in hard sphere systems. The simulation method used permits us to follow the dynamics after a sudden pressure or temperature quench in a one-step process without the need of extra densification methods. During the quench a strong correlation between the system density and the crystalline order parameter Q(6) is found. The growth of fcc order in the system over time is observed in detail and compared to Q(6)(t). We compare results for the equation of state on the metastable fluid branch with previous results from constant volume molecular dynamics simulations. Some results for the crystallization of binary hard sphere mixtures are also presented for a number of different size ratios.
Gruhn
T
T
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
Monson
P A
PA