材料期刊网

Homogeneous nucleation kinetics for melting in superheated crystals is analyzed in order to derive a kinetic stability limit for the crystal lattice above its equilibrium melting point (T-m). It is found that at a critical temperature (T-m(K), which is about 1.2T(m) for various elemental metals) a massive homogeneous nucleation of melting occurs in the superheated crystal. Such a homogeneous nucleation catastrophe, which occurs before other proposed (rigidity, volume, and entropy) catastrophes can intervene, provides us with a kinetic stability limit for superheated crystals.