Impact of crystal lattice defects on crystal melting: A molecular dynamics study

An ideal infinite lattice, when subjected to heating does not melt at the thermodynamic melting temperature. Instead, it remains solid metastably up to considerably higher temperatures. This effect is called superheating. We performed a molecular dynamics simulation of Xenon using Lennard-Jonesium potential with several types of defects. We observed a superheating effect on the chosen model for several pressures and found that the presence of grain inclusion or grain interface eliminates the superheating effect.