This concise and rigorous textbook introduces students to the subject of continuum thermodynamics, providing a complete treatment of the subject with practical applications to material modelling.

• Presents mathematical prerequisites and the foundations of continuum mechanics, taking the student step-by-step through the subject to allow full understanding of the theory.

• Introduces more advanced topics such as theories for the investigation of material models, showing how they relate to real-world practical applications.

• Numerous examples and illustrations, alongside end-of-chapter problems with helpful hints, help describe complex concepts and mathematical derivations.

This concise and rigorous textbook introduces students to the subject of continuum thermodynamics, providing a complete treatment of the subject with practical applications to material modelling.

• Presents mathematical prerequisites and the foundations of continuum mechanics, taking the student step-by-step through the subject to allow full understanding of the theory.

• Introduces more advanced topics such as theories for the investigation of material models, showing how they relate to real-world practical applications.

• Numerous examples and illustrations, alongside end-of-chapter problems with helpful hints, help describe complex concepts and mathematical derivations.

This concise and rigorous textbook introduces students to the subject of continuum thermodynamics, providing a complete treatment of the subject with practical applications to material modelling.

• Presents mathematical prerequisites and the foundations of continuum mechanics, taking the student step-by-step through the subject to allow full understanding of the theory.

• Introduces more advanced topics such as theories for the investigation of material models, showing how they relate to real-world practical applications.

• Numerous examples and illustrations, alongside end-of-chapter problems with helpful hints, help describe complex concepts and mathematical derivations.

This concise and rigorous textbook introduces students to the subject of continuum thermodynamics, providing a complete treatment of the subject with practical applications to material modelling.

• Presents mathematical prerequisites and the foundations of continuum mechanics, taking the student step-by-step through the subject to allow full understanding of the theory.

• Introduces more advanced topics such as theories for the investigation of material models, showing how they relate to real-world practical applications.

• Numerous examples and illustrations, alongside end-of-chapter problems with helpful hints, help describe complex concepts and mathematical derivations.

Chemical nucleation involves cluster growth by chemical reactions. In the case where clusters grow via a simple sequence of reversible chemical reactions, a summation expression for the steady-state nucleation rate can be derived. However, in many cases the chemical pathway to cluster growth is more complicated, and requires solving a set of species population balance equations that depend on the specific chemical system. Two examples are considered: soot nucleation in hydrocarbon combustion and nucleation of silicon particles in thermal decomposition of silane. In both cases, chemical kinetic mechanisms have been developed that allow for numerical simulations of particle formation. Soot nucleation is believed to proceed through the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Models have been developed for the formation of the first aromatic ring and for subsequent growth, either through reaction with small molecules or by coagulation. Silicon nucleation from silane involves a large set of silicon hydride species, which can be grouped into classes according to their structure and reactivity, facilitating estimates of their free energies and reaction rate constants.

In single-component homogeneous nucleation, the summation expression for the steady-state nucleation rate requires values of the forward rate constants and Gibbs free energies of cluster formation. If atomistic data are available for these quantities, then these could be used instead of CNT. In an atomistic approach, clusters are treated as distinct molecular species, rather than as a small piece of the bulk condensed phase. Examples are presented of atomistic data generated by means of computational chemistry for water clusters up to size 10, and for aluminum clusters up to size 60. In both cases, the free energy of cluster formation is found to be a multimodal function of cluster size, both quantitatively and qualitatively different than in CNT. Condensation rate constants can be affected by the need for a third body as a collision partner, and by attractive intermolecular forces in collisions between clusters and monomers. An approach is suggested for constructing a “master table” of free energies of cluster formation, based on a hybrid of atomistic data, experimental values inferred by means of the nucleation theorem, and extrapolations to larger cluster sizes based on CNT.

Particle nucleation in plasmas occurs under a wide range of conditions. In some cases, such as thermal plasma synthesis of metal nanoparticles, nucleation may follow the conventional scenarios of single-component homogeneous or ion-induced nucleation. In other cases, such as dust formation in nonthermal plasmas of the type used in semiconductor processing, the paths to nucleation are specific to the chemistry of the gases introduced into the processing chamber. In such cases, nucleation typically involves a mix of phenomena that combine chemical nucleation with plasma physics, with the chemistry being driven by electron impact, and the charging of small clusters by free electrons and ions playing an important role in cluster growth. The charging and transport of clusters and particles affect the electric field profile, causing the plasma and the aerosol phase to be strongly coupled. An example is considered of silicon particle nucleation in silane-containing plasmas, the most studied system because of its importance in semiconductor processing. Cluster growth in this system is dominated by reactions between anion clusters and neutral molecules.