ELLE Processes – Nucleation
Nucleation represents the initial step of a phase transformation. It is therefore of central importance to metamorphism, magmatism and, by extension, deformation of Earth materials. It is also a crucial process in materials science, metallurgy, chemistry, physics and biology.

Using the ELLE microdynamics simulation system, we can explore the relations among nucleation, growth growth and grain boundary diffusion rates, and the implications for new grain spacing and the control of fabric on new grain distribution. We can also explore the effects of porphyroblast nucleation and growth on rheology by coupling ELLE with the finite element code BASIL.

In this module, we summarize nucleation theory, show how nucleation in implemented in ELLE and provide some examples.