0000000001243226
AUTHOR
Bruce J. Ackerson
Dynamics of crystallization in hard-sphere suspensions.
Density fluctuations are monitored by small-angle light scattering during the crystallization of 0.22-\ensuremath{\mu}m-radius, hard colloidal spheres. Measured structure factors show an intensity maximum at finite-scattering vectors. The shape of the intensity distribution scales at early times during nucleation and growth and again at large times during ripening. At intermediate times there is a crossover region where scaling ceases to be valid. Both the amplitude and the position of the maximum intensity show quasi-power law behavior in time. The values of the observed exponents are within the range expected for classical growth models. The breadth of the intensity distribution increases…
Classical growth of hard-sphere colloidal crystals.
The classical theory of nucleation and growth of crystals is examined for concentrated suspensions of hard-sphere colloidal particles. The work of Russel is modified, extended, and evaluated, explicitly. Specifically, the Wilson-Frenkel growth law is modified to include the Gibbs-Thomson effect and is evaluated numerically. The results demonstrate that there is a critical nucleus radius below which crystal nuclei will not grow. A kinetic coefficient determines the maximum growth velocity possible. For large values of this coefficient, quenches to densities above the melting density show interface limited growth with the crystal radius increasing linearly with time. For quenches into the coe…