Metastability and Crystallization in Suspensions of Mixtures of Hard Spheres

S. I. Henderson and W. van Megen
Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 877 – Published 26 January 1998
PDFExport Citation

Abstract

Structural relaxation of metastable fluids and the kinetics of subsequent crystallization are measured by dynamic light scattering and by the growth of the main interlayer reflection in binary mixtures of colloidal polymer particles with hard-sphere-like interactions. The size ratios of the particles lie in the range for which eutectic phase behavior is expected. We find that at a constant volume fraction, close to the melting value of the one-component hard-sphere solid, the addition of up to about 10% by volume of the second component has negligible effect on the particle dynamics in the metastable fluid but significantly retards crystal nucleation and growth.

  • Received 11 August 1997

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.80.877

©1998 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

S. I. Henderson and W. van Megen

  • Department of Applied Physics, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 80, Iss. 4 — 26 January 1998

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review Letters

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×