Diffusive and martensitic nucleation kinetics in solid-solid transitions of colloidal crystals.

ABSTRACT: Solid-solid transitions between crystals follow diffusive nucleation, or various diffusionless transitions, but these kinetics are difficult to predict and observe. Here we observed the rich kinetics of transitions from square lattices to triangular lattices in tunable colloidal thin films with single-particle dynamics by video microscopy. Applying a small pressure gradient in defect-free regions or near dislocations markedly transform the diffusive nucleation with an intermediate-stage liquid into a martensitic generation and oscillation of dislocation pairs followed by a diffusive nucleus growth. This transformation is neither purely diffusive nor purely martensitic as conventionally assumed but a combination thereof, and thus presents new challenges to both theory and the empirical crit

SUBMITTER: Peng Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5440677 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature