Shock growth of ice crystal near equilibrium melting pressure under dynamic compression

Abstract

Crystal growth is governed by an interplay between macroscopic driving force and microscopic interface kinetics at the crystal–liquid interface. Unlike the local equilibrium growth condition, the interplay becomes blurred under local nonequilibrium, which raises many questions about the nature of diverse crystal growth and morphological transitions. Here, we systematically control the growth condition from local equilibrium to local nonequilibrium by using an advanced dynamic diamond anvil cell (dDAC) and generate anomalously fast growth of ice VI phase with a morphological transition from three- to two-dimension (3D to 2D), which is called a shock crystal growth. Unlike expected, the shock growth occurs from the edges of 3D crystal along the (112) crystal plane rather than its corners, which implies that the fast compression yields effectively large overpressure at the crystal–liquid interface, manifesting the local nonequilibrium condition. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation reproduces the faster growth of the (112) plane than other planes upon applying large overpressure. Moreover, the MD study reveals that the 2D shock crystal growth originates from the similarity of the interface structure between water and the (112) crystal plane under the large overpressure. This study provides insight into crystal growth under dynamic compressions, which makes a bridge for the unknown behaviors of crystal growth between under static and dynamic pressure conditions.

Compression-rate dependence of pressure-induced phase transitions in Bi

“…Access to this strain-rate regime is possible using piezo-driven dynamic diamond anvil cells (dDACs), which can generate compression rates up to 160 TPa/s (strain rates of ~ 10 2 s −1 ) 5 . However, studies utilizing this technique are still scarce, with many relying on indirect methods of structural determination 6 – 10 . More recently, improvements in detector technology allow for the collection of time-resolved X-ray diffraction data from dynamically-compressed samples at kHz repetition rates 5 , which offers sufficient time resolution to accurately pinpoint phase transitions pressures up to ~ 1000 GPa/s.…”

High-Density Liquid Water at a Water–Ice Interface

“…Other interfaces between liquid water and ice that are abundant on the Earth and on icy extraterrestrial bodies remain relatively underexplored, despite having an importance comparable with that of the water vapor–ice interface . Numerical simulations suggest that ice continuously loses its structure within, at most, a few nanometres of an interfacial layer, − regardless of the polymorphs . Experimental reports concerning the nature of water–ice interfacial layers are limited because of the high degree of technical difficulty arising from the scale of these interfacial layers and the similarity of properties between water and ice.…”

“…16 Numerical simulations suggest that ice continuously loses its structure within, at most, a few nanometres of an interfacial layer, 17−19 regardless of the polymorphs. 20 Experimental reports concerning the nature of water−ice interfacial layers are limited because of the high degree of technical difficulty arising from the scale of these interfacial layers and the similarity of properties between water and ice. Nevertheless, some light-scattering experiments have suggested the occurrence of wavelength-scale density fluctuations in a thin interfacial layer with a micron scale thickness between liquid water and growing ice Ih.…”

High-Pressure Nonequilibrium Dynamics on Second-to-Microsecond Time Scales: Application of Time-Resolved X-ray Diffraction and Dynamic Compression in Ice

“…Since the inception of the first dDAC, there have been many modifications and improvements to suit different purposes, such as high-temperature operation and increasing the compression rate. , In the past decade, the dynamic compression in the intermediate time scales has been used to investigate time-dependent high-pressure nonequilibrium dynamics, observing diverse physical phenomena. These include compression-rate kinetics, ,, formation of metastable phases, − crystal growth, − chemical reaction, and strain and stress . Relevant to the experiments that will be discussed below ( vide supra ) is the use of the double-membrane so the pressure can be systematically applied and reduced to control the compression and decompression processes at different rates .…”