Growth of a new phase in a substance in a metastable state

A model of kinetics of phase transitions in a substance in a metastable state is proposed, where the probability of extensive nucleation owing to homogeneous mechanisms is rather large; the model is an alternative to Kolmogorov’s model. The use of this model is demonstrated to offer analytical solutions that describe both the crystallization processes with similar densities of the liquid and solid phases and, for instance, the kinetics of nucleation and growth of bubbles in surface boiling. Solutions obtained by Kolmogorov’s model and by the present model coincide at the initial stage of the process where the volume fraction of the new phase is small. __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 48, No. 2, pp. 75–80, March–April, 2007.