Numerical Evidence for bcc Ordering at the Surface of a Critical fcc Nucleus
- 2 October 1995
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review Letters
- Vol. 75 (14), 2714-2717
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.75.2714
Abstract
We report a computer-simulation study of the crystal nucleation barrier and the structure of crystal nuclei in a Lennard-Jones system at moderate supercooling. The stable structure of the Lennard-Jones solid is known to be face-centered cubic. We find that the precritical nuclei are predominantly body-centered cubic ordered. But, as the nucleus grows to its critical size, the core becomes fcc ordered. Surprisingly, however, the interface of the critical nucleus retains a high degree of bcc-like ordering.Keywords
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