ON THE THEORY OF SUPERCOOLED LIQUID SOLID IFICATION .1. THERMODYNAMICS OF SOLID CLUSTERS

The description of the thermodynamics properties of noncrystalline emb ryos (clusters) is necessary to solve the problem of liquid solidifica tion taking into account the heterophase fluctuations and competitive nucleation and growth of the crystalline and noncrystalline embryos. T he paper describes the statistical and thermodynamic properties of the noncrystalline embryos taking into account the multiplicity of their structural states. The structural density of states is introduced, and the expression for the free energy of the noncrystalline cluster is d erived, which is valid in the limit of a large number of atoms in the cluster. The breach of ergodicity is considered.