Phase transition induced by a shock wave in hard-sphere and hard-disk systems

Dynamic phase transition induced by a shock wave in hard-sphere and hard-disk systems is studied on the basis of the system of Euler equations with caloric and thermal equations of state. First, Rankine-Hugoniot conditions are analyzed. The quantitative classification of Hugoniot types in terms of the thermodynamic quantities of the unperturbed state (the state before a shock wave) and the shock strength is made. Especially Hugoniot in typical two possible cases (P-1 and P-2) of the phase transition is analyzed in detail. In the case P-1 the phase transition occurs between a metastable liquid state and a stable solid state, and in the case P-2 the phase transition occurs through coexistence states, when the shock strength changes. Second, the admissibility of the two cases is discussed from a viewpoint of the recent mathematical theory of shock waves, and a rule with the use of the maximum entropy production rate is proposed as the rule for selecting the most probable one among the possible cases, that is, the most suitable constitutive equation that predicts the most probable shock wave. According to the rule, the constitutive equation in the case P-2 is the most promising one in the dynamic phase transition. It is emphasized that hard-sphere and hard-disk systems are suitable reference systems for studying shock wave phenomena including the shock-induced phase transition in more realistic condensed matters.     

Shock wave-induced phase transition in RDX single crystals

The real-time, molecular-level response of oriented single crystals of hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-s-triazine (RDX) to shock compression was examined using Raman spectroscopy. Single crystals of [111], [210], or [100] orientation were shocked under stepwise loading to peak stresses from 3.0 to 5.5 GPa. Two types of measurements were performed: (i) high-resolution Raman spectroscopy to probe the material at peak stress and (ii) time-resolved Raman spectroscopy to monitor the evolution of molecular changes as the shock wave reverberated through the material. The frequency shift of the CH stretching modes under shock loading appeared to be similar for all three crystal orientations below 3.5 GPa. Significant spectral changes were observed in crystals shocked above 4.5 GPa. These changes were similar to those observed in static pressure measurements, indicating the occurrence of the alpha-gamma phase transition in shocked RDX crystals. No apparent orientation dependence in the molecular response of RDX to shock compression up to 5.5 GPa was observed. The phase transition had an incubation time of approximately 100 ns when RDX was shocked to 5.5 GPa peak stress. The observation of the alpha-gamma phase transition under shock wave loading is briefly discussed in connection with the onset of chemical decomposition in shocked RDX.     

Nanosecond Rapid Crystallization of Water Induced by Quartz Glass under Dynamic Compression

Optical transmission characteristics of water between quartz glass under shock compression are in situ observed by using the technique of missile-borne light source. Through these transmission properties, the phase transition of liquid water is studied. The experimental results show that liquid water exhibits transparency decline phenomenon when the pressure is lower than 2 GPa under shock compression process, and the transparency variation is related to the existence of quartz glass. So, the transparency decline is attributed to a quartz-induced freezing phenomenon of water.     

Measurements of tension (<Emphasis Type="Italic">P</Emphasis> &lt; 0) in a metastable aqueous 2<Emphasis Type="Italic">m</Emphasis> Na<Subscript>2</Subscript>WO<Subscript>4</Subscript>–CsCl solution

The negative pressure (tension) was measured by Raman spectroscopy in an aqueous 2m Na₂WO₄–CsCl solution during a metastable-to-stable state transition. Phase transitions were observed optically in synthetic fluid inclusions in a single quartz crystal. In the metastable liquid phase, the vapor phase nucleation pressure at 48°C is ?105 ± 5 MPa. Water equation of state (IAPWS-95) predicts the nucleation pressure for this density to be approximately ?160 MPa.     

n-pentanol at high pressures: rotational isomerism in the liquid phase and the liquid-solid phase transition

The vibrational spectrum of liquids constituted of chain molecules is difficult to analyze because it may have contributions of different rotational isomers. In turn, with a proper vibrational assignment, this feature allows us to extract information about the effect of temperature or pressure on the molecular conformations in the liquid state. In this regard, the information on the vibrational spectrum in the solid phase greatly simplifies the vibrational analysis of the different rotational conformers existing in the liquid, as the molecules usually present all-trans conformations in the crystalline state. Here we report room-temperature Raman experiments on n-pentanol performed in a sapphire-anvil cell up to 3 GPa. A detailed analysis of the liquid-solid phase transition occurring at 1.3 GPa is provided. The analysis of the Raman spectrum in the solid phase allows the identification of the bands due to the different rotational isomers present in the liquid. The analysis of the spectral region corresponding to skeletal vibrations of the carbon chain (800-1200 cm(-1)) indicates that gauche conformers are promoted by the application of pressure. The analysis of the intensity ratio of those bands assigned to trans and gauge conformations is used to calculate the change in molecular volume ascribed to the trans-gauge isomerization process. We find a value similar to that found in n-alkanes, i.e., -0.88 cm(3) mol(-1). In addition, we find indication that pressure varies the proportions of the different gauge conformers. Thus, it appears that the GTTt to TGTt transition in the carbon chain is favored at high pressures. As expected, a smaller change in the molecular volume accompanies this conformation change.     

Alignment and alignment dynamics of nematic liquid crystals on Langmuir-Blodgett mono-layers

Mono-layers of stearic and behenic acids, deposited with the Langmuir-Blodgett technique, were used as aligning films in nematic liquid crystal cells. During the filling process the liquid crystal adopts a deformed quasi-planar alignment with splay-bend deformation and preferred orientation along the filling direction. This state is metastable and transforms with time into a homeotropic state once the flow has ceased. The transition is accompanied by formation of disclination lines which nucleate at the edges of the cell. The lifetime of the metastable splay-bend state was found to depend on the cell thickness. On heating, an anchoring transition from quasi-homeotropic to degenerate tilted alignment in the form of circular domains takes place near the transition to the isotropic phase. The anchoring transition is reversible with a small hysteresis.     

Dissociation behavior of C2H6 hydrate at temperatures below the ice point: melting to liquid water followed by ice nucleation

The dissociation of C(2)H(6) hydrate particles by slow depressurization at temperatures slightly below the ice melting point was studied using optical microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Visual observations and Raman measurements revealed that ethane hydrates can be present as a metastable state at pressures lower than the dissociation pressures of the three components: ice, hydrate, and free gas. However, they decompose into liquid water and gas phases once the system pressure drops to the equilibrium boundary for supercooled water, hydrate, and free gas. Structural analyses of obtained Raman spectra indicate that structures of the metastable hydrates and liquid water from the hydrate decay are fundamentally identical to those of the stable hydrates and supercooled water without experience of the hydration. These results imply a considerably high energy barrier for the direct hydrate-to-ice transition. Water solidification, probably induced by dynamic nucleation, was also observed during melting.     

Glass transition line in C60: a mode-coupling/molecular-dynamics study

We report a study of the mode-coupling theory (MCT) glass transition line for the Girifalco model of C60 fullerene. The equilibrium static structure factor of the model, the only required input for the MCT calculations, is provided by molecular dynamics simulations. The glass transition line develops inside the metastable liquid-solid coexistence region and extends down in temperature, terminating on the liquid side of the metastable portion of the liquid-vapor binodal. The vitrification locus does not show re-entrant behavior. A comparison with previous computer simulation estimates of the location of the glass line suggests that the theory accurately reproduces the shape of the arrest line in the density-temperature plane. The theoretical HNC and MHNC structure factors (and consequently the corresponding MCT glass line) compare well with the numerical counterpart. Our results confirm the conclusion drawn in previous works about the existence of a glassy phase for the fullerene model at issue.     

Pressure-induced structural transition in n-pentane: a Raman study

Pressure-induced Raman spectroscopy studies on n-pentane have been carried out up to 17 GPa at ambient temperature. n-Pentane undergoes a liquid-solid transition around 3.0 GPa and a solid-solid transition around 12.3 GPa. The intensity ratio of the Raman modes related to all-trans conformation (1130 cm-1 and 2850 cm-1) to that of gauche conformation (1090 cm-1 and 2922 cm-1) suggests an increase in the gauche population conformers above 12.3 GPa. This is accompanied with broadening of Raman modes above 12.3 GPa. The high-pressure phase of n-pentane above 12.3 GPa is a disordered phase where the carbon chains are kinked. The pressure-induced order-disorder phase transition is different from the behavior of higher hydrocarbon like n-heptane.     

Unlocking of interlocked heteropolymer gel by light: photoinduced volume phase transition in an ionic liquid from a metastable state to an equilibrium phase

An azobenzene-containing heteropolymer gel in an ionic liquid exhibits thermally reversible volume phase transition when the azobenzene moiety mainly exists in the cis-state, whereas the transition becomes irreversible when it is in the trans-state and an interlocked collapsed state is stabilized; however, the unlocking of the metastable state occurs by UV light irradiation.     

New approach to the first-order phase transition of Lennard-Jones fluids

The multicanonical Monte Carlo method is applied to a bulk Lennard-Jones fluid system to investigate the liquid-solid phase transition. We take the example of a system of 108 argon particles. The multicanonical weight factor we determined turned out to be reliable for the energy range between -7.0 and -4.0 kJ/mol, which corresponds to the temperature range between 60 and 250 K. The expectation values of the thermodynamic quantities obtained from the multicanonical production run by the reweighting techniques exhibit the characteristics of first-order phase transitions between liquid and solid states around 150 K. The present study reveals that the multicanonical algorithm is particularly suitable for analyzing the transition state of the first-order phase transition in detail.     

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.     

Metastable states in antiferroelectric liquid crystalline mixtures

We report on the observation of relaxation phenomena with extremely long relaxation times, amounting to several hours. These effects take place in some liquid crystal mixtures exhibiting ferroelectric and antiferroelectric dipole order. The observed phenomena are connected with the transformation from the supercooled ferroelectric state to another, metastable state. This transition may be described using a Debye type relaxation formula. At low temperatures, a second slow transition takes place: from the metastable intermediate state to the antiferroelectric phase. This transition is characterized by unidimensional growth of the antiferroelectric domains with a constant velocity. Close to the lower temperature limit of existence of the ferroelectric phase, a direct transition from the ferroelectric to the antiferroelectric phase takes place. This transition is described by an Avrami model, hence it is governed by the creation and growth of nuclei of the antiferroelectric phase.     

Metastable states in antiferroelectric liquid crystalline mixtures

We report on the observation of relaxation phenomena with extremely long relaxation times, amounting to several hours. These effects take place in some liquid crystal mixtures exhibiting ferroelectric and antiferroelectric dipole order. The observed phenomena are connected with the transformation from the supercooled ferroelectric state to another, metastable state. This transition may be described using a Debye type relaxation formula. At low temperatures, a second slow transition takes place: from the metastable intermediate state to the antiferroelectric phase. This transition is characterized by unidimensional growth of the antiferroelectric domains with a constant velocity. Close to the lower temperature limit of existence of the ferroelectric phase, a direct transition from the ferroelectric to the antiferroelectric phase takes place. This transition is described by an Avrami model, hence it is governed by the creation and growth of nuclei of the antiferroelectric phase.     

Polarization selectivity of third-order and fifth-order Raman spectroscopies in liquids and solids

Polarization selectivity of third-order and fifth-order Raman spectroscopies is examined for both isotropic liquids and periodic lattices. Our approach directly applies the symmetry property of the probed system to decompose the polarization tensor elements into independent components. The polarization selectivity predicted by symmetry analysis is rigorous and applicable to higher-order Raman spectroscopy. The different polarization selectivities of isotropic systems and periodic lattices can be used as a signature of the liquid-solid phase transition.     

Structural and thermal characterization of the γ″ polymorph of Bi2MoO6

Among the different polymorphic phases of the Bi₂MoO₆ system, the intermediate γ″ compound has been characterized within a metastable state by high temperature X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The transition γ ? γ″ is found to be partially displacive and partially reconstructive. In the context of the ferroelectricity of γ, the nature of the paraelectric phase is discussed with the help of space group considerations and Buerger's theory of phase transitions.     

Pressure-induced metastable phase transition in orthoenstatite (MgSiO3) at room temperature: a Raman spectroscopic study

Phase behavior of a synthetic orthoenstatite in a diamond-anvil cell has been studied up to ∼22 GPa by using Raman spectroscopy at room temperature. Under quasi-hydrostatic conditions, orthoenstatite undergoes a reversible phase transformation at an apparent transition pressure of ∼10 GPa for compression and ∼9.5 GPa for decompression. The 3d transition-metal cations, e.g., Fe²⁺ and Ni²⁺, show only a minor effect on the transition pressure within 10 wt% of addition. All the Raman frequencies in both orthoenstatite and its high-pressure phase increase monotonically with increasing pressure. The amount of forward or backward transition is fixed at a given pressure and forms a hysteresis loop in the transition %-pressure plan. The type for the present metastable phase transition is inferred to be of first order and the high-pressure polymorph may be the intermediate between orthoenstatite and the high-pressure clinoenstatite (i.e., the high-P C2/c phase). A mechanism based on Mnyukh's edgewise model of interface motion has been suggested to account for the observed phenomena.     

Giant Pressure‐Driven Lattice Collapse Coupled with Intermetallic Bonding and Spin‐State Transition in Manganese Chalcogenides

Materials with an abrupt volume collapse of more than 20 % during a pressure‐induced phase transition are rarely reported. In such an intriguing phenomenon, the lattice may be coupled with dramatic changes of orbital and/or the spin‐state of the transition metal. A combined in situ crystallography and electron spin‐state study to probe the mechanism of the pressure‐driven lattice collapse in MnS and MnSe is presented. Both materials exhibit a rocksalt‐to‐MnP phase transition under compression with ca. 22 % unit‐cell volume changes, which was found to be coupled with the Mn²⁺(d⁵) spin‐state transition from S=5/2 to S=1/2 and the formation of Mn?Mn intermetallic bonds as supported by the metallic transport behavior of their high‐pressure phases. Our results reveal the mutual relationship between pressure‐driven lattice collapse and the orbital/spin‐state of Mn²⁺ in manganese chalcogenides and also provide deeper insights toward the exploration of new metastable phases with exceptional functionalities.     

Computer simulation of nucleation in a gas-saturated liquid

Molecular dynamics methods have been used to investigate the kinetics of the liquid-gas phase transition in a two-component Lennard-Jones system at negative pressures and elastic stretches of the liquid to values close to spinodal ones. The molecular dynamics system consists of 2048 interacting particles with parameters of the Lennard-Jones potential for argon and neon. Density dependences of pressure and internal energy have been calculated for stable and metastable states of the mixture at a temperature T* approximately 0.7+/-0.01 and three values of the concentration. The location of mechanical and the diffusion spinodals has been determined. It has been established that a gas-saturated mixture retains its stability against finite variations of state variables up to stretches close to the values near the diffusion spinodal. The statistic laws of the process of destruction of the metastable state have been investigated. The lifetimes of the metastable phase have been determined. It is shown that owing to the small height of the potential barrier that separates the microheterogeneous from the homogeneous state a system of finite size has a possibility to make the reverse transition from the microheterogeneous into the homogeneous state. The lifetimes of the system in the microheterogeneous state, as well as the expectation times of the occurrence of a critical nucleus, are described by Poissonian distributions.