Homogeneous nucleation of iron from supersaturated vapor investigated by molecular dynamics simulation

The nucleation of particles from a supersaturated iron vapor is investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. The supersaturated iron vapor is embedded in an argon heat bath which removes the heat generated during the nucleation process. The nucleation rates are calculated from the cluster size statistics with a method proposed by Yasuoka and Matsumoto. Within this analysis no assumptions concerning the size of the critical cluster are required. The obtained values are consistent with the experimental data of iron nucleation rates. By applying the first nucleation theorem the size of the critical cluster is determined from nucleation rate data. It is in the order of one to three atoms which agrees with the observations of the cluster size fluctuations during the nucleation process. The excess energy of the critical cluster is estimated by the second nucleation theorem. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.