Estimation of the free energy of undercooled oxide melts

Abstract

The difference in free energy between a liquid and a solid phase (ΔG) is an important parameter in nucleation theory. We show that a novel expression derived by a Taylor series expansion of ΔG around its value at the melting temperature describes accurately the ΔG of oxide melts as a function of degree of undercooling. This is demonstrated for a number of pure (SiO2, GeO2, and B2O3) and compound oxides.