A Molecular Dynamics Study of Nickel Crystallization at Strong Supercoolings

The homogeneous crystallization of liquid nickel models containing 2048 particles in the basic cube was studied by molecular dynamics. The potential of the embedded atom method was used. The models were constructed under zero pressure or constant volume conditions. The state of the structure was evaluated from the number of atoms with the coordination number 12. The concentration of such atoms in the stable and metastable liquids increased as the temperature decreased. At the selected potential of the embedded atom model, the equilibrium crystallization temperature at zero pressure was 1415 K. The existence of the lower boundary of liquid nickel supercooling was established. The liquid crystallized under isothermal conditions by the cluster mechanism with the formation of a predominantly closely packed structure below 850 K at zero pressure and below 1075 K at a constant volume (6.588 cm³/mol). The mechanism of nucleation was different from that accepted in classic nucleation theory. Nucleation was accompanied by an increase in the number of atoms with the coordination number 12, the formation of bound groups (12-clusters) from these atoms, and the growth of these groups, as with the crystallization of rubidium under strong supercooling conditions and coagulation of impurities from supersaturated solutions. At the initial stage, bound groups had a very loose structure and contained a large number of atoms with coordination numbers other than 12; the linear size of the largest group rapidly approximated the basic cube size. These atoms played a leading role in crystallization and activated the transfer of atoms in bound groups having different coordination numbers into the coordination state corresponding to a closely packed lattice. An important role in the formation of 12-clusters of the threshold (critical) size played cluster size fluctuations, which were especially strong close to the lower boundary of liquid supercooling.