Liquid metals: Supercool order

An electron microscope with atomic level resolution was used to study the interface between liquid aluminum and an alumina crystal. The ordering layering imposed on the interface reduces the fluidity of the liquids and therefore, is used in different applications including lubrication, fluid flow in narrow channels, nucleation and crystal growth from melt. The study reveals that the imposed order can favor a body-centered cubic structure for the xenon when it freezes rather than the natural face-centered cubic. The study of layering in liquid xenon at an interface with solid aluminum shows the difficulties in correlating in-plane order seen in simulations.