The growth simulation of pine-needle like structure with diffusion-limited aggregation and oriented attachment.

Abstract

A growth model combined with diffusion-limited aggregation (DLA) and oriented attachment (OA) is developed for deducing quantitative understanding of the growth process of pine-needle like structures. We define the completely random parameters for describing the realistic Brownian motion in DLA. The results indicate that the cluster by DLA changes from random branches to regular needles by the introduction of OA. And the cluster of DLA and OA has a fractal dimensionality of about 1.0 during the whole growth process. The maximum length of needels (Lmax) depends on the number of particles (Np). They satisfy the relation Lmax = aNpb (a and b are constant) over the whole range. The model has also been used to describe the formation of needles on a line, plane and sphere. The growth of needles has obvious steric hindrance from the outer needles. In particular, only one needle grows in the later period in the plane.