STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF MOLECULAR CLUSTERS .2. MELTING AND FREEZING OF CCL4 CLUSTERS

Phase transitions of a 225-molecule cluster of carbon tetrachloride have been studied by a molecular dynamics simulation. A rive-site model potential function was developed to reproduce the density and heat of vaporization of the bulk liquid. Computations began with orientationally disordered molecules distributed in fcc lattice sites of a nearly spherical cluster. The cluster was heated from a low temperature to 200 K in 10-deg steps of 50 ps each and then cooled to 10 K. Translational and rotational transitions were monitored by following several indicators including the translational and rotational diffusion and rotational entropies of individual molecules. Melting began at the surface and propagated inward as the temperature increased. Solidification of the molten cluster proceeded from the center to the surface. At the high cooling rate of the simulation, however, molecules were unable to organize into a crystalline array and solidified into a glassy structure instead. Except for spatial order, the indicators of degree of liquefaction exhibited almost the same temperature dependence in the crystsl --> liquid as in the liquid --> glass transition, a behavior that could be rationalized on the basis of Lindemann's theory of melting. Results were compared with predictions of an illustrative model due to Reiss, Mirabel, and Whetten. Qualitatively, the model included all of the features of the simulation. Quantitatively, the model grossly underestimated the range over which the melting transition took place.