Theory of Crystallization versus Vitrification

Abstract: The competition between crystallization and vitrification in glass-forming materials manifests as a non-monotonic behavior in the time-temperature transformation (TTT) diagrams, which quantify the time scales for crystallization as a function of temperature. We develop a coarse-grained lattice model, the Arrow-Potts model, to explore the physics behind this competition. Using Monte Carlo simulations, the model showcases non-monotonic TTT diagrams resulting in polycrystalline structures, with two distinct regimes limited by either crystal nucleation or growth. At high temperatures, crystallization is limited by nucleation and results in the growth of compact crystal grains. At low temperatures, crystal growth is influenced by glassy dynamics, and proceeds through dynamically heterogeneous and hierarchical relaxation pathways producing fractal and ramified crystals. To explain these phenomena, we combine the Kolmogorov-Johnson-Mehl-Avrami theory with the field theory of nucleation, a random walk theory for crystal growth, and the dynamical facilitation theory for glassy dynamics. The unified theory yields an analytical formula relating crystallization timescale to the nucleation and growth rates through universal exponents governing glassy dynamics of the model. We show that the formula with the universal exponents yields excellent agreement with the Monte Carlo simulation data and thus, it also accounts for the non-monotonic TTT diagrams produced by the model. Both the model and theory can be used to understand structural ordering in various glassy systems including bulk metallic glass alloys, organic molecules, and colloidal suspensions.