Statistical Approach to the Description of Homogeneous Nucleation in the Vapor-Gas Medium: Effects of the Heat of Phase Transition

Abstract

The effect of the heat release of phase transition is included in the formalism of the statistical approach in order to allow for the depletion of a substance comprising the metastable phase in the kinetics of the homogeneous nucleation of supersaturated vapor. The diffusion regime of the exchange of molecules between the vapor and the growing droplets is considered on the assumption of instantaneous creation of the initial vapor supersaturation. The time-dependent boundary condition on the surface of a sphere with a fixed radius and a center coinciding with the center of a growing droplet is used in the problem of heat conductivity that allowed us to provide the heat balance of phase transition. The main characteristics of the nucleation stage are calculated for the representative vapor-gas systems. It is shown that the allowance for the effects of the heat release of phase transition resulted in a rather notable change in the kinetics of nucleation even at a sufficiently high concentration of the passive gas.