The work presented here was motivated by the premise that the amorphous state serves as a medium to study cocrystal formation. The molecular mobility inherent to amorphous phases can lead to molecular associations between different components such that a single crystalline phase of multiple components or cocrystal is formed. Cocrystallization pathways and kinetics were investigated from amorpho...

Due to excellent thermo-mechanical properties, tungsten (W) is considered as a promising divertor material in ITER, full divertor in JET, first wall in DEMO and ASDEX Upgrade. During plasma disruptions and ELMs the W material can be severely damaged because of macroscopic melt losses resulting in short lifetime and plasma contamination. Therefore, understanding the underlying forces and physica...

When a binary alloy is directionally solidified, a two-phase mushy dendritic zone is often formed. Interdendritic convection of the melt may occur, and is coupled with compositional convection of the residual melt. If fluid flow velocities are high enough, local melt-back of the dendrites may occur, leading to channel formation, and thus preferred flow paths. In order to predict the onset of co...

To investigate an amorphous structure of Ge(2)Sb(2)Te(5) that satisfies the 8-N rule (so-called 'ideal glass'), we perform alternative melt-quench simulations on Si(2)As(2)Se(5) and replace atoms in the final structure with Ge-Sb-Te. The resulting structures have salient features of the 8-N rule such as the tetrahedral configuration for all Ge atoms and the localized Te lone pairs at the valenc...

A metastable liquid may exist under supercooling, sustaining the liquid below the melting point such as supercooled water and silicon. It may also exist as a transient state in solid-solid transitions, as demonstrated in recent studies of colloidal particles and glass-forming metallic systems. One important question is whether a crystalline solid may directly melt into a sustainable metastable ...

Introduction: The Earth’s outer core is known to be ~10% less dense than pure metallic Fe-Ni liquid [1, 2] and thus is thought to contain ~10% light elements [e.g., 1] with proposed candidates including sulfur (S), carbon (C), oxygen (O), hydrogen (H), and silicon (Si). The presence of minor, lighter alloying elements is also argued for metallic cores of other planetary bodies including inner t...

10 The Earth’s deep interior contains significant reservoirs of volatiles such as H, C, and N. Due 11 to the incompatible nature of these volatile species, it has been difficult to reconcile their 12 storage in the residual mantle immediately following crystallization of the terrestrial magma 13 ocean (MO). As the magma ocean freezes, it is commonly assumed, very small amounts 14 of melt is ret...

We report a comparison of high resolution inelastic x-ray Brillouin scattering to coherent inelastic neutron scattering for amorphous deuterated polybutadiene, done for one temperature in the glass phase and another one in the melt. The x-ray scattering proves to be by far the better technique for such a polymer within its present resolution bounds. The neutron scattering allows one to extend t...

The presence of melt ponds on the surface of Arctic sea ice significantly reduces its albedo, inducing a positive feedback leading to sea ice thinning. While the role of melt ponds in enhancing the summer melt of sea ice is well known, their impact on suppressing winter freezing of sea ice has, hitherto, received less attention. Melt ponds freeze by forming an ice lid at the upper surface, whic...

Compared to the reported method, relatively high pure silver sulfide iodide (Ag3SI) crystal, a kind of super-ionic conductor, was synthesized in a more facile procedure through the designed melt-cooling technique followed by a heat-treatment at 160°C for half an hour, which is confirmed by the corresponding X-ray Diffraction patterns. Utilizing the designed differential thermal analyzer method,...