Dresden 2026 – scientific programme
Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help
MM: Fachverband Metall- und Materialphysik
MM 15: Phase Transformations I
MM 15.6: Talk
Tuesday, March 10, 2026, 15:15–15:30, SCH/A215
Size effects on phase change: solid-state wetting vs. coherency stress — •Yong Li1 and Jörg Weissmüller2,1 — 1Institute of Hydrogen Technology, Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, Geesthacht, Germany — 2Institute of Materials Physics and Technology, Hamburg University of Technology, Hamburg, Germany
Coherent phase transformations in interstitial solid solutions or intercalation compounds with miscibility gaps are crucial to the behavior of energy storage materials, particularly metal hydride and lithium-ion compounds nanoparticles. Prior studies often attribute size-dependent phase transformation behavior either to solid-state critical-point wetting at particle surfaces or to coherent stresses from solute-saturated surface layers. We introduce a hybrid numerical approach that couples atomistic grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations with continuum mechanics analysis of coherency-stress, allowing wetting and mechanical constraints to be simulated simultaneously or independently, thereby decoupling their respective contributions. For material parameters representative of realistic interstitial solutions, we find that solid-state wetting has only a minor influence, whereas coherency stress dominates the size dependence. Mechanical interactions reduce phase-transformation hysteresis at small sizes and increase solute binding in the solid, thereby lowering the chemical potential ’plateau’ at the phase coexistence.
Keywords: coherent phase transformation; size effect; solid-state wetting; coherency stress; grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation