Scaling Law for the Onset of Solidification at Extreme Undercooling.

ABSTRACT

Quasi-isentropic compression enables one to study the solidification of metastable liquid states that are inaccessible through other experimental means. The onset of this nonequilibrium solidification is known to depend on the compression rate and material-specific factors, but this complex interdependence has not been well characterized. In this study, we use a combination of experiments, theory, and computational simulations to derive a general scaling law that quantifies this dependence. One of its applications is a novel means to elucidate melt temperatures at high pressures.