Repeated crystallization in undercooled Zr41Ti14Cu12Ni10Be23 liquids

Isothermal crystallization studies are performed on Zr41Ti14Cu12Ni10Be23 melts. Undercooling experiments are carried out repeatedly at 907, 860, and 750 K. The scattering of the time to reach the onset of crystallization is investigated. Results from experiments performed at 907 K show a large scatter of the onset time of crystallization. For the experiments carried out at 860 and 750 K, scattering of the onset time is two orders of magnitude smaller. These results indicate that, at high temperatures, the crystallization is governed by the time scale of the statistical nucleation events. At low temperatures, the crystallization is controlled by diffusion, resulting in a well-defined onset time for crystallization

Self-interaction chromatography as a tool for optimizing conditions for membrane protein crystallization

The second virial coefficient, or B value, is a measurement of how well a protein interacts with itself in solution. These interactions can lead to protein crystallization or precipitation, depending on their strength, with a narrow range of B values (the `crystallization slot') being known to promote crystallization. A convenient method of determining the B value is by self-interaction chromatography. This paper describes how the light-harvesting complex 1-reaction centre core complex from Allochromatium vinosum yielded single straight-edged crystals after iterative cycles of self-interaction chromatography and crystallization. This process allowed the rapid screening of small molecules and detergents as crystallization additives. Here, a description is given of how self-interaction chromatography has been utilized to improve the crystallization conditions of a membrane protein

In situ visualization of Ni-Nb bulk metallic glasses phase transition

We report the results of the Ni-based bulk metallic glass structural evolution and crystallization behavior in situ investigation. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nano-beam diffraction (NBD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), radial distribution function (RDF) and scanning probe microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS) techniques were applied to analyze the structure and electronic properties of Ni63.5Nb36.5 glasses before and after crystallization. It was proved that partial surface crystallization of Ni63.5Nb36.5 can occur at the temperature lower than for the full sample crystallization. According to our STM measurements the primary crystallization is originally starting with the Ni3Nb phase formation. It was shown that surface crystallization drastically differs from the bulk crystallization due to the possible surface reconstruction. The mechanism of Ni63.5Nb36.5 glass alloy 2D-crystallization was suggested, which corresponds to the local metastable (3x3)-Ni(111) surface phase formation. The possibility of different surface nano-structures development by the annealing of the originally glassy alloy in ultra high vacuum at the temperature lower, than the crystallization temperature was shown. The increase of mean square surface roughness parameter Rq while moving from glassy to fully crystallized state can be caused by concurrent growth of Ni3Nb and Ni6Nb7 bulk phases. The simple empirical model for the estimation of Ni63.5Nb36.5 cluster size was suggested, and the obtained values (7.64 A, 8.08 A) are in good agreement with STM measurements data (8 A-10 A)

Computational Crystallization

Crystallization is a key step in macromolecular structure determination by crystallography. While a robust theoretical treatment of the process is available, due to the complexity of the system, the experimental process is still largely one of trial and error. In this article, efforts in the field are discussed together with a theoretical underpinning using a solubility phase diagram. Prior knowledge has been used to develop tools that computationally predict the crystallization outcome and define mutational approaches that enhance the likelihood of crystallization. For the most part these tools are based on binary outcomes (crystal or no crystal), and the full information contained in an assembly of crystallization screening experiments is lost. The potential of this additional information is illustrated by examples where new biological knowledge can be obtained and where a target can be sub-categorized to predict which class of reagents provides the crystallization driving force. Computational analysis of crystallization requires complete and correctly formatted data. While massive crystallization screening efforts are under way, the data available from many of these studies are sparse. The potential for this data and the steps needed to realize this potential are discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Modelling of heat transfers and prediction of crystallization during cooling of chicken fat

Heat transfers that occurred during chicken fat dry fractionation process were characterized. The heat flux model developed led to follow the heat flux associated with crystallization (?r) during the cooling step. A crystallization kinetics was performed by measuring the solid content of the suspension of crystals at regular intervals by low-resolution pulsed nuclear magnetic resonnance. The variation of the total heat of crystallization calculated from the thermal model developed in this study was in good agreement with the crystallization kinetics. The results reported suggested that monitoring ?r during cooling could be useful for the prediction and control of crystallization kinetics and therefore the yield of fat dry fractionation process. (Résumé d'auteur

Universal two-step crystallization of DNA-functionalized nanoparticles

We examine the crystallization dynamics of nanoparticles reversibly tethered by DNA hybridization. We show that the crystallization happens readily only in a narrow temperature "slot," and always proceeds via a two-step process, mediated by a highly-connected amorphous intermediate. For lower temperature quenches, the dynamics of unzipping strands in the amorphous state is sufficiently slow that crystallization is kinetically hindered. This accounts for the well-documented difficulty of forming crystals in these systems. The strong parallel to the crystallization behavior of proteins and colloids suggests that these disparate systems crystallize in an apparently universal manner.Comment: Accepted for publication in Soft Matte

Explosive crystallization mechanism of ultradisperse amorphous films

The explosive crystallization of germanium ultradisperse amorphous films is studied experimentally. We show that crystallization may be initiated by local heating at the small film thickness but it realizes spontaneously at the large ones. The fractal pattern of the crystallized phase is discovered that is inherent in the phenomena of diffusion limited aggregation. It is shown that in contrast to the ordinary crystallization mode the explosive one is connected with the instability which is caused by the self-heating. A transition from the first mechanism to the second one is modelled by Lorenz system. The process of explosive crystallization is represented on the basis of the self-organized criticality conception. The front movement is described as the effective diffusion in the ultrametric space of hierarchically subordinated avalanches, corresponding to the explosive crystallization of elementary volumes of ultradisperse powder. The expressions for the stationary crystallization heat distribution and the steady-state heat current are obtained. The heat needed for initiation of the explosive crystallization is obtained as a function of the thermometric conductivity. The time dependence of the spontaneous crystallization probability in a thin films is examined.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures, LaTe