Interfacial and volumetric melting regimes of Sn nanoparticles

[Display omitted] A thermodynamically consistent phase field formulation was developed to describe what has been historically known as the premelted surface layer in Sn nanoparticles. Two interfacial phases were identified: 1) a disordered interfacial phase, i.e., the experimentally observed premelted surface layer; and 2) an ordered surficial phase displaying a remnant degree of order in fully melted particles. A volumetric partially disordered particle core is predicted to exist for small particle sizes, r