Shape-Determined Kinetic Pathways in 2D Solid-Solid Phase Transitions

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zhu, Ruijian, Peng, Yi, Wang, Yanting
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866918312455176192
author Zhu, Ruijian
Peng, Yi
Wang, Yanting
author_facet Zhu, Ruijian
Peng, Yi
Wang, Yanting
contents Solid-solid phase transitions are ubiquitous in nature, but the kinetic pathway of anisotropic particle systems remains elusive, where the coupling between translational and rotational motions plays a critical role in various kinetic processes. Here we investigate this problem by molecular dynamics simulation for two-dimensional ball-stick polygon systems, where pentagon, hexagon, and octagon systems all undergo an isostructural solid-solid phase transition. During heating, the translational motion exhibits merely a homogeneous expansion, whereas the time evolution of body-orientation is shape-determined. The local defects of body-orientation self-organize into a vague stripe for pentagon, a random pattern for hexagon, while a distinct stripe for octagon. The underlying kinetic pathway of octagon adheres to the quasi-equilibrium assumption, whereas the pathways of hexagon and pentagon are governed by translational and rotational motion, respectively. This diversity is originated from different kinetic coupling modes determined by the anisotropy of molecules, and can affect the phase transition rates. The reverse process in terms of cooling follows the same mechanism, with more diverse kinetic pathways attributed to the possible kinetic traps. Our findings promote the theoretical understanding of microscopic kinetics of solid-solid phase transitions as well as provide direct guidance for the rational design of materials utilizing desired kinetic features.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_20423
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Shape-Determined Kinetic Pathways in 2D Solid-Solid Phase Transitions
Zhu, Ruijian
Peng, Yi
Wang, Yanting
Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
Solid-solid phase transitions are ubiquitous in nature, but the kinetic pathway of anisotropic particle systems remains elusive, where the coupling between translational and rotational motions plays a critical role in various kinetic processes. Here we investigate this problem by molecular dynamics simulation for two-dimensional ball-stick polygon systems, where pentagon, hexagon, and octagon systems all undergo an isostructural solid-solid phase transition. During heating, the translational motion exhibits merely a homogeneous expansion, whereas the time evolution of body-orientation is shape-determined. The local defects of body-orientation self-organize into a vague stripe for pentagon, a random pattern for hexagon, while a distinct stripe for octagon. The underlying kinetic pathway of octagon adheres to the quasi-equilibrium assumption, whereas the pathways of hexagon and pentagon are governed by translational and rotational motion, respectively. This diversity is originated from different kinetic coupling modes determined by the anisotropy of molecules, and can affect the phase transition rates. The reverse process in terms of cooling follows the same mechanism, with more diverse kinetic pathways attributed to the possible kinetic traps. Our findings promote the theoretical understanding of microscopic kinetics of solid-solid phase transitions as well as provide direct guidance for the rational design of materials utilizing desired kinetic features.
title Shape-Determined Kinetic Pathways in 2D Solid-Solid Phase Transitions
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.20423