Slow dynamics and re-entrant melting in a polydisperse hard-sphere fluid

Extensive molecular dynamics simulations are performed at 6% polydispersity to investigate the phase diagram of a polydisperse hard-sphere fluid and the dynamical behavior in each phase. As the volume fraction phi is increased, the existence of a supercooled liquid is suggested above phi = 0.5524 by the mean-field analysis proposed recently. The first-order phase transition from supercooled liquid to crystal is then shown to occur around phi = 0.5630. The occurrence of re-entrant melting, a first-order phase transition from crystal to supercooled liquid, is also found around phi = 0.5715. The existence of the glass transition is thus suggested, even in the hard-sphere fluid with small polydispersity.     

On melting dynamics and the glass transition. I. Glassy aspects of melting dynamics

The following properties are in the present literature associated with the behavior of supercooled glass-forming liquids: faster than exponential growth of the relaxation time, dynamical heterogeneities, growing point-to-set correlation length, crossover from mean-field behavior to activated dynamics. In this paper we argue that these properties are also present in a much simpler situation, namely the melting of the bulk of an ordered phase beyond a first order phase transition point. This is a promising path toward a better theoretical, numerical and experimental understanding of the above phenomena and of the physics of supercooled liquids. We discuss in detail the analogies and the differences between the glass and the bulk melting transitions.     

Evidence for a simple monatomic ideal glass former: the thermodynamic glass transition from a stable liquid phase

Under cooling, a liquid can undergo a transition to the glassy state either as a result of a continuous slowing down or by a first-order polyamorphous phase transition. The second scenario has so far always been observed in a metastable liquid domain below the melting point where crystalline nucleation interfered with the glass formation. We report the first observation of the liquid-glass transition by a first-order polyamorphous phase transition from the equilibrium stable liquid phase. The observation was made in a molecular dynamics simulation of a one-component system with a model metallic pair potential. In this way, the model, demonstrating the thermodynamic glass transition from a stable liquid phase, may be regarded as a candidate for a simple monatomic ideal glass former. This observation is of conceptual importance in the context of continuing attempts to resolve the long-standing Kauzmann paradox. The possibility of a thermodynamic glass transition from an equilibrium melt in a metallic system also indicates a new strategy for the development of bulk metallic glass-forming alloys.     

Molecular dynamics simulations of the melting of aluminum nanoparticles

Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to determine the melting points of aluminum nanoparticles of 55-1000 atoms with the Streitz-Mintmire [Phys. Rev. B 1994, 50, 11996] variable-charge electrostatic plus potential. The melting of the nanoparticles is characterized by studying the temperature dependence of the potential energy and Lindemann index. Nanoparticles with less than 850 atoms show bistability between the solid and liquid phases over temperature ranges below the point of complete melting. The potential energy of a nanoparticle in the bistable region alternates between values corresponding to the solid and liquid phases. This bistability is characteristic of dynamic coexistence melting. At higher temperatures, only the liquid state is stable. Nanoparticles with more than 850 atoms undergo a sharp solid-liquid-phase transition characteristic of the bulk solid phase. The variation of the melting point with the effective nanoparticle radius is also determined.     

A molecular dynamics simulation of the melting points and glass transition temperatures of myo- and neo-inositol

The heat of sublimation, density, melting point, and glass transition temperature are calculated for myo- and neo-inositol, using the condensed-phase optimized molecular potentials for atomistic simulation studies (COMPASS) force field and molecular dynamics techniques. Our results show that the calculated heats of sublimation and density are very close to the experimental values for both compounds. Furthermore, our simulated melting temperatures for myo- and neo-inositol also compare very well to the experimentally obtained data. The glass transition temperatures for myo- and neo-inositol have been calculated to be ca. 494 K and ca. 518 K, respectively, and the shape of the volume versus temperature plots produced are typical for a glass transition. As a result, it is our view that the COMPASS force field suitably describes these two compounds in molecular simulations and that molecular dynamics techniques, combined with this force field, can be used to simulate the melt and glass transitions for such molecules.     

Molecular dynamics simulations of a hard sphere crystal and reaction-like mechanism for homogeneous melting

Molecular dynamics simulations of a hard sphere crystal are performed for volume fractions ranging from solidification point to melting point. A local bond order parameter is chosen to assign a nature, liquid or solid, to a particle. The probability for a liquid or solid particle to change state presents a typical sigmoid shape as the nature of its neighbors changes. Using this property, I propose a reaction-like mechanism and introduce a small number of rate constants. A mean-field approach to melting and a kinetic Monte Carlo algorithm on a lattice are derived from these chemical processes. The results of these models successfully compare with molecular dynamics simulations, proving that the main properties of melting can be captured by a small number of dynamical parameters.     

Molecular dynamics studies of melting and solid-state transitions of ammonium nitrate

Molecular dynamics simulations are used to calculate the melting point and some aspects of high-temperature solid-state phase transitions of ammonium nitrate (AN). The force field used in the simulations is that developed by Sorescu and Thompson [J. Phys. Chem. A 105, 720 (2001)] to describe the solid-state properties of the low-temperature phase-V AN. Simulations at various temperatures were performed with this force field for a 4 x 4 x 5 supercell of phase-II AN. The melting point of AN was determined from calculations on this supercell with voids introduced in the solid structure to eliminate superheating effects. The melting temperature was determined by calculating the density and the nitrogen-nitrogen radial distribution functions as functions of temperature. The melting point was predicted to be in the range 445 +/- 10 K, in excellent agreement with the experimental value of 442 K. The computed temperature dependences of the density, diffusion, and viscosity coefficient for the liquid are in good agreement with experiment. Structural changes in the perfect crystal at various temperatures were also investigated. The ammonium ions in the phase-II structure are rotationally disordered at 400 K. At higher temperatures, beginning at 530 K, the nitrate ions are essentially rotationally unhindered. The density and radial distribution functions in this temperature range show that the AN solid is superheated. The rotational disorder is qualitatively similar to that observed in the experimental phase-II to phase-I solid-state transition.     

Molecular dynamics simulations of melting of perfect crystalline hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-s-triazine

The melting mechanism of superheated perfect crystalline hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-s-triazine (alpha-RDX) has been investigated using molecular dynamics simulations with the fully flexible force field developed by Smith and Bharadwaj [J. Phys. Chem. B 103, 3570 (1999)]. Sequential 50 ps equilibration simulations of the constant stress-constant temperature ensemble were performed at 10 K intervals over the range of 300-650 K, corresponding to a heating rate of 2.0 x 10(11) Ks. A solid-solid phase transition is observed between 480 and 490 K, followed by melting, which occurs between 500 and 510 K. The solid-solid phase transition, both displacive and rotational, is characterized by an abrupt decrease in the lengths of the unit cell edges a and b and an increase of the length of edge c. The molecular conformation in the new phase is AAE, although the axial nitro groups have different changes: one shift is more axial and the other is more equatorial. Phases other than alpha-RDX have been observed experimentally, however, there are insufficient data for comparisons to ascertain that the new phase observed here corresponds to a real phase. At the high heating rate (2.0 x 10(11) Ks) used in the simulations, the melted RDX reaches full orientational disorder at about 540 K and translational freedom at around 580 K. If the simulation at the melting temperature (510 K) is run sufficiently long complete rotational freedom is achieved in a few hundreds of picoseconds, while complete translational freedom requires much longer. These results show that given a sufficiently high heating rate, the system can exist for significant periods of time in a near-liquid state in which the molecules are not as free to rotate and diffuse as in the true liquid state. The bond lengths and bond angles undergo little change upon melting, while there are significant changes in the dihedral angles. The molecular conformation of RDX changes from AAE to EEE upon melting. The ramification of this for formulating force fields that accurately describe melting is that it is important that the torsional motions are accurately described.     

Sharp melting of polymer-DNA hybrids: an associative phase separation approach

An associative equilibrium theory describing the sharp melting behavior of polymer-DNA hybrids is developed. The theory considers linear polymers with attached DNAs on each polymer that serve as "stickers" and with a two-state model governing the DNA melting equilibrium. For three or more oligonucleotides on each polymer, solutions of polymer-DNA hybrids are found to undergo phase separation at sufficiently low temperatures. The dense phase dissolves as temperature increases, which leads to a sharp increase in the fraction of non-hybridized DNA near the phase transition temperature, in agreement with experimental absorbance profiles at 260 nm. The melting temperature is predicted to have the same dependence on salt concentration as a solution of unattached DNAs and be weakly sensitive to the concentration of DNA in solution. The melting temperature is predicted to be higher than that of unattached DNA in solution, with the magnitude of the increase sensitive to the DNA hybridization cooperativity. The theoretical predictions are generally in good quantitative agreement with new experimental data (also presented here), which show the effect of the polymer-DNA hybrid length and salt concentration on the melting profiles.     

Molecular dynamics simulation for surface melting and self-preservation effect of methane hydrate

The surface melting process of structure sI methane hydrate is simulated at T = 240, 260, 280, and 300 K using NVT molecular dynamics method. The simulation results show that a quasi-liquid layer will be formed during the melting process. The density distribution, translation, orientation, and dynamic properties of water molecules in the quasi-liquid layer are calculated as a function of the distance normal to the interface, which indicates the performance of quasi-liquid layer exhibits a continuous change from crystal-like to liquid-like. The quasi-liquid layer plays as a resistance of mass transfer restraining the diffusion of water and methane molecules during the melting process. The resistance of quasi-liquid layer will restrain methane molecules diffuse from hydrate phase to gas phase and slow the melting process, which can be considered as a possible mechanism of self-preservation effect. The performance of quasi-liquid layer is more crystal-like when the temperature is lower than the melt- ing-point of water, which will exhibit an obvious self-preservation. The self-preservation will weaken while the temperature is higher than the melting-point of water because of the liquid-like performance of the quasi-liquid layer.     

Specific reversible melting of polyethylene

The specific reversibility of the crystallization and melting of linear and branched polyethylene has been determined as function of temperature by temperature‐modulated differential scanning calorimetry. The specific reversibility of crystallization and melting is defined as the ratio of the reversible enthalpy to the total enthalpy of the transition, both measured at the same temperature. This definition emphasizes a close connection between the reversible and irreversible parts of the transition. As one would expect, the crystal‐to‐melt transition of a given portion of a sample can only be reversible at a temperature close to its own temperature of irreversible melting. Reversible melting is absent at temperatures far from irreversible melting, and this is usually seen by experimentation as its zero‐entropy production melting temperature. The reversible change in the fold length, in contrast, is observed far from the melting temperature of the crystal involved. The specific reversibility of the crystallization and melting of polyethylene crystals may exceed 50% outside the temperature range of the main crystallization and melting. The specific reversibility seems rather independent of the branch concentration, and this points to similar mechanisms of the reversible transition in linear polyethylene of high crystallinity and in branched polyethylene of low crystallinity. The reversible transition is due to a local equilibrium at the crystal surface and is, therefore, largely independent of the overall morphology of the sample. In this study, a model is developed that is based on partial molecular melting, which avoids the need of molecular nucleation and permits, therefore, reversible melting as seen for small molecules in the presence of crystal nuclei. It provides an explanation of the rather large number of the crystals that may participate in reversible melting and allows a connection to the fully reversible crystallization of paraffins and the fully irreversible crystallization of extended‐chain crystals of high crystallinity. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 2157–2173, 2003     

First order melting transitions of highly ordered dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine gel phase membranes in molecular dynamics simulations with atomistic detail

Molecular dynamics simulations with atomistic detail of the gel phase and melting transitions of dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine bilayers in water reveal the dependency of many thermodynamic and structural parameters on the initial system ordering. We quantitatively compare different methods to create a gel phase system and we observe that a very high ordering of the gel phase starting system is necessary to observe behavior which reproduces experimental data. We performed heating scans with speeds down to 0.5 K/ns and could observe sharp first order phase transitions. Also, we investigated the transition enthalpy as the natural intrinsic parameter of first order phase transitions, and obtained a quantitative match with experimental values. Furthermore, we performed systematic investigations of the statistical distribution and heating rate dependency of the microscopic phase transition temperature.     

Molecular dynamics simulations of surface-initiated melting of nitromethane

The melting of nitromethane initiated at solid-vacuum interfaces has been investigated using molecular dynamics nvt simulations with a realistic force field [D. C. Sorescu et al., J. Phys. Chem. B 104, 8406 (2000)]. The calculated melting point (251+/-5 K) is in good agreement with experiment (244.73 K) and values obtained previously (approximately 255.5 and 266.5+/-8 K) using other simulation methods [P. M. Agrawal et al., J. Chem. Phys. 119, 9617 (2003)]. Analyses of the molecular orientations and diffusion during the simulations as functions of the distance from the exposed surfaces show that the melting is a direct crystal-to-liquid transition, in which the molecules first gain rotational freedom, then mobility. There is a slight dependence of the melting temperature on the exposed crystallographic face.     

Molecular dynamics simulations of melting and the glass transition of nitromethane

Molecular dynamics simulations have been used to investigate the thermodynamic melting point of the crystalline nitromethane, the melting mechanism of superheated crystalline nitromethane, and the physical properties of crystalline and glassy nitromethane. The maximum superheating and glass transition temperatures of nitromethane are calculated to be 316 and 160 K, respectively, for heating and cooling rates of 8.9 x 10(9) Ks. Using the hysteresis method [Luo et al., J. Chem. Phys. 120, 11640 (2004)] and by taking the glass transition temperature as the supercooling temperature, we calculate a value of 251.1 K for the thermodynamic melting point, which is in excellent agreement with the two-phase result [Agrawal et al., J. Chem. Phys. 119, 9617 (2003)] of 255.5 K and measured value of 244.73 K. In the melting process, the nitromethane molecules begin to rotate about their lattice positions in the crystal, followed by translational freedom of the molecules. A nucleation mechanism for the melting is illustrated by the distribution of the local translational order parameter. The critical values of the Lindemann index for the C and N atoms immediately prior to melting (the Lindemann criterion) are found to be around 0.155 at 1 atm. The intramolecular motions and molecular structure of nitromethane undergo no abrupt changes upon melting, indicating that the intramolecular degrees of freedom have little effect on the melting. The thermal expansion coefficient and bulk modulus are predicted to be about two or three times larger in crystalline nitromethane than in glassy nitromethane. The vibrational density of states is almost identical in both phases.     

Molecular dynamics study of orientational order and rotational melting in clusters of TeF6

Molecular dynamics simulations of the behavior of molecules in crystalline clusters of TeF₆ were carried out on systems of 100, 150, 250, and 350 molecules. Several diagnostic functions were applied to investigate whether rotational melting occurred before translational melting. These functions included the coefficient of rotational diffusionD _θ(T), the “orientational Lindemann index” δ_θ(T), the “orientational angular distribution function”Q(θ,T), and the “orientational pair-correlation function”g _θ(r, T). All indicators implied that rotational melting occurred before translational melting, that it began with the outermost molecules, and that its onset for smaller clusters was at lower temperatures than for larger clusters. Results also showed that the rotational transition coincided with the transition from a lower symmetry phase (monoclinic) to cubic, a phenomenon that had been noted by others to occur with some regularity for systems of globular molecules.     

Two-stage melting of Au-Pd nanoparticles

Several series of molecular dynamics runs were performed to simulate the melting transition of bimetallic cuboctahedral nanoparticles of gold-palladium at different relative concentrations to study their structural properties before, in, and after the transition. The simulations were made in the canonical ensemble, each series covering a range of temperatures from 300 to 980 K, using the Rafii-Tabar version of the Sutton and Chen interatomic potential for metallic alloys. We found that the melting transition temperature has a strong dependence on the relative concentrations of the atomic species. We also found that, previous to the melting transition, the outer layer of the nanoparticle gets disordered in what can be thought as a premelting stage, where Au atoms near the surface migrate to the surface and remain there after the particle melts as a whole. The melting of the surface below Tm is consistent with studies of the interaction of a TEM electron beam with Au and Au-Pd nanoparticles.     

Molecular dynamics simulations of the melting mechanisms of perfect and imperfect crystals of dimethylnitramine

The melting mechanisms of perfect and imperfect crystalline dimethylnitramine have been studied using molecular dynamics simulations. The imperfect crystal was created by removing approximately 10% of the molecules from the center of the simulation cell. The density, diffusion coefficient, translational and orientational order parameters, and void size were calculated as functions of temperature and simulation time. Upon melting, the volume of the imperfect crystal slowly decreases with time due to the shrinkage of the void then suddenly decreases to a minimum value due to collapse of the structure around the void with concomitant diffusion of molecules into the void. The simulation cell volume then increases as the liquid nucleus formed at the void expands. The melting of perfect crystals must occur by a different mechanism. As the temperature of the perfect crystal reaches the maximum superheating temperature, there is an increase in the thermal motions of the molecules that result in the formation of liquid centers (characterized by translational order parameter consistent with the liquid phase) at random locations. The liquid centers rapidly grow, resulting in a complete transition to the liquid phase. The increases in orientational and translational freedom occur simultaneously in the imperfect crystal, and in the perfect crystal, orientational freedom significantly precedes translational freedom.     

Nonequilibrium melting and crystallization of a model Lennard-Jones system

Nonequilibrium melting and crystallization of a model Lennard-Jones system were investigated with molecular dynamics simulations to quantify the maximum superheating/supercooling at fixed pressure, and over-pressurization/over-depressurization at fixed temperature. The temperature and pressure hystereses were found to be equivalent with regard to the Gibbs free energy barrier for nucleation of liquid or solid. These results place upper bounds on hysteretic effects of solidification and melting in high heating- and strain-rate experiments such as shock wave loading and release. The authors also demonstrate that the equilibrium melting temperature at a given pressure can be obtained directly from temperatures at the maximum superheating and supercooling on the temperature hysteresis; this approach, called the hysteresis method, is a conceptually simple and computationally inexpensive alternative to solid-liquid coexistence simulation and thermodynamic integration methods, and should be regarded as a general method. We also found that the extent of maximum superheating/supercooling is weakly pressure dependent, and the solid-liquid interfacial energy increases with pressure. The Lindemann fractional root-mean-squared displacement of solid and liquid at equilibrium and extreme metastable states is quantified, and is predicted to remain constant (0.14) at high pressures for solid at the equilibrium melting temperature.     

Mechanistic aspects of homogeneous and heterogeneous melting processes

Molecular dynamics simulations have been employed to explore the response of crystalline Ar systems with and without a free surface to a gradual temperature rise. The surface-free crystalline bulk undergoes a homogeneous melting process at the limit of superheating, whereas the semicrystal terminating with a free plane surface melts with a heterogeneous mechanism at a temperature corresponding to the equilibrium melting point. Numerical findings suggest that the gradual disordering of the crystalline lattice as well as the homogeneous and heterogeneous melting processes are mediated by atoms with defective coordination. Their concentration in the regions close to the semicrystal surface at the equilibrium melting point is found to be approximately the same as in the surface-free bulk at the limit of superheating.     

Comparative study of microstructural evolution during melting and crystallization

Molecular dynamics simulations, with the interaction between atoms described by a modified analytic embedded atom method, have been performed to obtain the atomic-scale details of isothermal melting in nanocrystalline Ag and crystallization from supercooled liquid. The radial distribution function and common neighbor analysis provide a visible scenario of structural evolution in the process of phase transition. The results indicate that melting at a fixed temperature in nanocrystalline materials is a continuous process, which originates from the grain boundary network. With the melting developing, the characteristic bond pairs (555), (433), and (544), existing in liquid or liquidlike phase, increase approximately linearly till completely melted. The crystallization from supercooled liquid is characterized by three characteristic stages: nucleation, rapid growth of nucleus, and slow structural relaxation. The homogeneous nucleation occurs at a larger supercooling temperature, which has an important effect on the process of crystallization and the subsequent crystalline texture. The kinetics of transition from liquid to solid is well described by the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami equation.