On the critical nucleus and nucleation process of β-cristobalite crystal
Despite several decades of study, there has been much controversy regarding the structure of the glass and the nature of glass transition. Understanding the nucleation process of β-cristobalite is an important step in studying the formation of silica glass structure. The knowledge of stru...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Academia.edu Journals
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Academia Materials Science |
| Online Access: | https://www.academia.edu/127388021/On_the_critical_nucleus_and_nucleation_process_of_%CE%B2_cristobalite_crystal |
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| Summary: | Despite several decades of study, there has been much controversy regarding the structure of the glass and the nature of glass transition. Understanding the nucleation process of β-cristobalite is an important step in studying the formation of silica glass structure. The knowledge of structural change in the system prior to critical nucleus formation is crucial to follow the structural evolution of silica glass in the cooling process. The existing classical nucleation theory (CNT) has limitations in this aspect as it does not evaluate the critical role of the disorder–order transition in the nucleation process nor does it provide structural information before the critical nucleation. This work proposes a new hypothesis describing the critical nucleus’s shape, size, and formation pathway. An analysis based on the newly proposed hypothesis shows that the most popular continuous random network (CRN) theory cannot completely describe the heterogeneous glass structure. A new theory that recognizes the small clusters in glass structures is needed. |
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| ISSN: | 2997-2027 |