ABSTRACT
Nucleation and growth of a new (daughter) phase from an old (parent) phase are two related topics of tremendous current interest, with wide-ranging practical value and with applications ranging from atmospheric research to materials science. First-order phase transitions usually occur via nucleation and subsequent growth of the postcritical nucleus. The last stage is again divided into two parts: growth and aging. The latter is also referred to as ripening. The formation of a droplet of the stable phase within the metastable bulk phase through an activated process is called nucleation. Growth follows nucleation and leads to phase transition. Aging occurs in the late stage of first-order phase transition and takes place when the system is closed for mass exchange. After nucleation and growth, minimization of the total interfacial energy drives competitive late-stage growth. The mechanism recognized for the aging process is Ostwald ripening, which is the phenomenon in which the smaller clusters lose monomers and decay and larger clusters capture monomers and grow.
