Supercooling and transient phase induced nucleation in n-alkane solutions

The supercooling exhibited by bulk solutions of the n-alkane tricosane (C23) in dodecane (C12) is measured as a function of concentration using adiabatic scanning calorimetry. For small dilutions where crystallization occurs into the rotator phase, negligible supercooling is observed. For larger dilutions where crystallization is into the herringbone crystal phase, nucleation occurs at the temperature where the rotator phase becomes stable with respect to the liquid. The supercooling in bulk n-alkane solutions is thus determined by the metastable phase diagram. This is a novel, but possibly often occurring mechanism where nucleation is induced by a transient metastable phase.