Hairdressing shish-kebabs; comprehensive survey and theoretical discussion of overgrowth crystallization

The platelet component of shish-kebabs crystallizes after the core, during cooling or storage below the formation temperature of the core. Three basic platelet morphologies were previously identified which were mutually interconvertible, a process we have termed “hairdressing”. In this paper we show that these three categories are special cases of a continuous range of overgrowth spacings. Crystallization at high temperatures gives widely spaced overgrowths and, as the crystallization temperature is reduced, so the overgrowth spacing decreases gradually. In the extreme case (only obtainable by quenching) the overgrowths become so close as to overlap and appear continuous. We also report a variety of further effects which were caused by exposing the shish-kebabs, while in solvent, to temperatures above their initial formation temperature. A new theoretical approach is described which considers the depletion of material available to form new overgrowths during crystallization. Two versions of this theory are presented (one a computer simulation and one analytic); interpreting our results on the basis of this theory we show that shish-kebabs crystallize at high temperatures even when quenched (90°C and above except in a few exceptional circumstances) and we are able to explain all the features of shish-kebab crystallization that we have observed.