title: Screw dislocations in complex, low symmetry oxides: core structures, energetics, and impact on crystal growth.
abstract: Determining the atomic structure and the influence of defects on properties of low symmetry oxides have long been an engineering pursuit. Here, we focus on five thermodynamically reversible monoclinic and orthorhombic polymorphs of dicalcium silicates (Ca2SiO3)-a key cement constituent-as a model system and use atomistic simulations to unravel the interplay between the screw dislocation core energies, nonplanar core structures, and Peierls stresses along different crystallographic planes. Among different polymorphs, we found that the α polymorphs (α-C2S) has the largest Peierls stress, corresponding to the most brittle polymorph, which make it attractive for grinding processes. Interestingly, our analyses indicate that this polymorphs has the lowest dislocation core energy, making it ideal for reactivity and crystal growth. Generally, we identified the following order in terms of grinding efficiency based on screw dislocation analysis, α-C2S > αH-C2S > αL-C2S > β-C2S > γ-C2S, and the following order in term of reactivity, α -C2S > αL-C2S > γ-C2S > αH-C2S > β-C2S. This information, combined with other deformation-based mechanisms, such as twinning and edge dislocation, can provide crucial insights and guiding hypotheses for experimentalists to tune the cement grinding mechanisms and reactivity processes for an overall optimum solution with regard to both energy consumption and performance. Our findings significantly broaden the spectrum of strategies for leveraging both crystallographic directions and crystal symmetry to concurrently modulate mechanics and crystal growth processes within an identical chemical composition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, ‡Department of Material Science and NanoEngineering, §Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Rice University , Houston, Texas 77005, United States.
authors.forename: Rouzbeh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shahsavari
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D017610:Calcium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D003460:Crystallization; D010087:Oxides / Q000737:chemistry*; D017640:Silicates / Q000737:chemistry*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D017610:Calcium Compounds; D010087:Oxides; D017640:Silicates; C013481:dicalcium silicate
keywords: Peierls stress; atomistic simulation; crystal defects; dicalcium silicates (Ca2SiO3); dislocation-mediated property; screw dislocation