Experimental visualization of inoculation using a charged colloidal model system

Abstract

Inoculation is widely used to tune the microstructure of a polycrystalline solid from the melt and thus its material properties. We present here a systematic time resolved experimental study of inoculation in a charged colloidal model system investigating the changes of the crystallization scenario upon adding spherical seeds and show that the nucleation kinetics solely determines the resulting microstructure.