Surface melting and crystallisation driven by sedimentation: a particle resolved study

preprint2016arXivOpen access

Abstract

We investigate the effects of the reversal of the gravitational field onto a sedimented and partially crystallised suspension of nearly-hard sphere colloids. We analyse the structural changes that take place during the melting of the crystalline regions and the reorganisation and assembly of the sedimenting particles. Through a comparison with numerical simulation, we access the single-particle kinetics and identify the key structural mechanism in the competition between five-fold symmetric and cubic crystalline structures. With the use of a coarse-grained, discrete model, we reproduce the kinetic network of reactions underpinning crystallisation and highlight the main microscopic transitions.

Explore this paper’s authors, topics and related work.

Building this map preview

BZPEER is loading the nearby papers, people, topics and institutions for this page.

Reviews 0

Write a reviewWrite

No reviews yet.

Discussion 0

Add a commentWrite

No comments yet.