Nucleation in systems with elastic forces.
Systems with long-range interactions when quenched into a metastable state near the pseudospinodal exhibit nucleation processes that differ from classical nucleation seen near the coexistence curve. In systems with long-range elastic forces the description of the nucleation process can be quite subtle due to the presence of bulk and surface elastic compatibility constraints. We analyze the nucleation process in a simple 2D model with elastic forces and show that the nucleation process generates critical droplets with a different structure than the stable phase. This has implications for nucleation in many crystal-crystal transitions, specifically martensites and shape memory alloys, and for the structure of the final state.
Klein
W
W
CNLS, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
Lookman
T
T
Saxena
A
A
Hatch
D M
DM