Liquid nucleation of surface-free crystal from nanovoids

According to the classical nucleation theory, an estimation for homogeneous nucleation temperature of liquid from nanovoids within a surface-free bulk material is developed by considering energetic contributions of surface (interface) energy and surface (interface) stress on total Gibbs free energy. The model predicts a kinetic superheating limit temperature Tmax, which is larger than the corresponding bulk value of Tm0 and is a function of void size. The increase of Tmax is enhanced as the nanovoid size decreases, which can well explain the molecular dynamics simulation results of melting points Tm of argon crystal.