NUCLEATION AND CLUSTERING - A MICROSCOPIC STUDY OF THE AGGREGATION BEHAVIOR IN METASTABLE SOLUTIONS

The aggregation state of metastable solutions has been studied by smal l angle neutron scattering. The variation of the scattering curves was monitored during continuous cooling for aqueous solutions of ND4Cl. T he analysis of the data indicates the existence of finite-sized domain s responsible for the variation of the scattering density on undercool ing. The data have been analyzed using a Percus-Yevick hard-sphere mod el which gives cluster sizes between 10 and 30 nm with an average inte rparticle distance of 100-200 nm.