Stochastic nature of the liquid-to-crystal heterogeneous nucleation of supercooled lithium disilicate liquid

•Repeatedly supercooling (332 runs) a single sample of lithium disilicate liquid•Lag time distribution of the liquid-to-crystal heterogeneous nucleation is evident.•Analysis shows stochastic nature of the heterogeneous nucleation.

The inherent stochastic nature of the liquid-to-crystal heterogeneous nucleation of lithium disilicate is demonstrated by repeatedly supercooling the liquid of a single sample below melting temperature and reheating after crystallization inside a platinum container. Using this technique allowed us to determine the mean lag time τav (= 1769 s) to nucleation of the survival curve, at which the half of 332 runs nucleated and the spread of the nucleation times δ (= 384 s) with statistical significance. The evidence of a lag time distribution shows that crystal nucleation is a stochastic event, as predicted by classical nucleation theory, even when it is occurring at the same favorable site.