Transient nucleation in glasses

Experimental and theoretical treatments of time-dependent or transient nucleation are reviewed. A numerical model of nucleation under isothermal and non-isothermal conditions is used to examine key assumptions and to model experimental data. Transient effects are predicted quantitatively by the classical theory of nucleation. We show that transient nucleation can dramatically influence phase formation and stability and may be critical for glass formation in some systems. By modeling both nucleation and growth, the methods commonly used to analyze non-isothermal data from these transformations are shown to be flawed.