Volume supercooled

Classic nucleation theory must be modified for nucleation near a critical point. Observed supercooling and superheating far exceeds that predicted by conventional theory and McGraw and Reiss [36] pointed out that if a usually neglected excluded volume term is retained the free energy of the critical nucleus increases considerably. As noted by Derjaguin [37], a similar problem occurs in the theory of cavitation. In binary systems the composition of the nuclei will differ from that of the bulk... 

Bartell and co-workers have made significant progress by combining electron diffraction studies from beams of molecular clusters with molecular dynamics simulations [14, 51, 52]. Due to their small volumes, deep supercoolings can be attained in cluster beams however, the temperature is not easily controlled. The rapid nucleation that ensues can produce new phases not observed in the bulk [14]. Despite the concern about the appropriateness of the classic model for small clusters, its application appears to be valid in several cases [51]. 

Fig. 1. Volume—temperature relationships for glasses, liquids, supercooled liquids, and crystals.

Glass-Transition Temperature. When a typical Hquid is cooled, its volume decreases slowly until the melting point, T, where the volume decreases abmpdy as the Hquid is transformed into a crystalline soHd. This phenomenon is illustrated by the line ABCD in Eigure 3. If a glass forming Hquid is cooled below (B in Eig. 3) without the occurrence of crystallization, it is considered to be a supercooled Hquid until the glass-transition temperature, T, is reached. At temperatures below T, the material is a soHd. 

FIGURE 1.7.1 Molar solubility (liquid or supercooled liquid) versus Le Bas molar volume for mononuclear aromatic hydrocarbons. 

The plot between Henry s law constant and molar volume (Figure 1.7.4) is more scattered. Figure 1.7.5 shows the often-reported inverse relationship between octanol-water partition coefficient and the supercooled liquid solubility. 

As mentioned in Sect. 3, for PEO it has been found that the crystallization temperature is often a function of the MD volume. The examples quoted in Sect. 3 referred to PEO dispersed in droplets or to PEO that was a component within diblock copolymers. For other block copolymer components like PCL the variation in Tc encountered upon MD size increase is not as pronounced. Nojima et al. [22] found that the variation of Tc for PB-fo-PCL block copolymers with spherical PCL MDs of increasing sizes, ranging from 10.3 to 17.4 nm, was of about 5 °C for crystallization at very large supercoolings (Tc fluctuated between - 50 and - 45 °C approximately). For ABC triblock copolymers, Muller et al. [29], Schmalz et al. [101,119] and Balsamo et al. [118] found, by studying copolymers with minority components of PEO or PCL blocks linked to a rubbery block, that the Tc associated with fractionated... 

---