Output details

An Epitaxial Model for Heterogeneous Nucleation on Potent Substrates

This is the first model describing heterogeneous nucleation on a potent substrate at the atomic level. Academically, it revealed theoretically that lattice misfit is the key parameter governing heterogeneous nucleation and demonstrated mathematically the effect of elastic strain energy on heterogeneous nucleation. In addition, it also revealed the mechanism of how adsorbed solute atoms at the liquid/substrate interface affect heterogeneous nucleation. Practically, this paper provides a guideline for developing effective grain refiners: selecting nucleating particles with minimum lattice misfit followed by selecting a solute element to further reduce the lattice misfit by adsorption at the liquid/substrate interface.