Impurity effects in thermal regelation

When a particle is placed in a material with a lower bulk melting temperature, intermolecular forces can lead to the existence of a "premelted" liquid film of the lower melting temperature material. Despite the system being below the melting temperatures of both solids, the liquid film is...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Soft matter 2020-07, Vol.16 (25), p.5886-5891
Main Authors: Marath, Navaneeth K, Wettlaufer, J. S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Impurities
Impurity effects
Intermolecular forces
Melt temperature
Melting
Temperature gradients
Thermodynamic equilibrium
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Summary:When a particle is placed in a material with a lower bulk melting temperature, intermolecular forces can lead to the existence of a "premelted" liquid film of the lower melting temperature material. Despite the system being below the melting temperatures of both solids, the liquid film is a consequence of thermodynamic equilibrium, controlled by intermolecular, ionic and other interactions. An imposed temperature gradient drives the translation of the particle by a process of melting and refreezing known as "thermal regelation". We calculate the rate of regelation of spherical particles surrounded by premelted films that contain ionic impurities. The impurities enhance the rate of motion thereby influencing the dynamics of single particles and distributions of particles, which we describe in addition to the consequences in natural and technological settings. When a particle is placed in a material with a lower bulk melting temperature, intermolecular forces can lead to the existence of a "premelted" liquid film of the lower melting temperature material.
ISSN:1744-683X
1744-6848
DOI:10.1039/d0sm00558d