The solid-liquid interfacial energy of metals: calculations versus measurements

摘要

Values of solid-liquid interfacial energy sigma_(SL) of metals at their melting points T_m that have been derived from reported maximum undercoolings are compared with values calculated from broken bond models. Particularly good agreement is obtained with the formulation of Waseda and Miller, although this significantly underestimates sigma_(SL) for Bi, Ge and Pb. A recent model based on the size-dependence of melting temperature of crystals overestimates sigma_(SL) for metals typically by 50 percent to 100 percent and its applicability to inorganic and organic compounds needs to be more widely tested.