Cellular automata simulation of the phenomenon of multiple crystallization

Abstract

The phenomenon of multiple crystallization from supersaturated solutions was simulated. For this simulation the model used is based on partitioning cellular automata (CA) with probabilistic table lookup for the implementation of diffusion and interaction according to diffusion and crystal growth basic equations. Such an approach, which takes into account temperature, crystallographic indexes of crystal surface and local fluctuations describes the problem at a mesoscopic level. This simulates the physical processes of diffusion, nucleation, and aggregation of particles. Results were obtained that are in qualitative agreement with the behavior of the majority of real situation for the: (i) temperature dependence of the crystal solubility; (ii) temperature dependence of the concentration of beginning of crystallization from supersaturated solutions. It was also studied the processes of crystallization at different temperatures and analyzed the behavior of the different parameters involved in crystallization systems: concentration of solution, interfacial energy, mass of crystals and average size of crystal. Finally, the process of crystallization was modeled at several conditions of temperature gradient.