Dynamical solid-liquid transition through oscillatory shear

TL;DR

This study investigates how periodic shear induces a dynamical transition from order to disorder in crystalline materials, revealing different transition types in 2D and 3D and linking amorphization to spinodal decomposition.

Contribution

It provides the first numerical analysis of nonequilibrium order-disorder transitions under oscillatory shear in crystalline systems across dimensions.

Findings

2D transition is continuous, 3D is discontinuous

Amorphization resembles spinodal decomposition

Large-scale simulations confirm transition mechanisms

Abstract

Starting from an ideal crystalline state, we numerically study a nonequilibrium dynamical order- disorder transition promoted by the application of a periodic shearing protocol at low temperatures in model systems in two and three dimensions. We observe a continuous (2D) and discontinuous (3D) dynamical transition from an ordered to a disordered steady state. Through the analysis of large-scale simulations, we show that the amorphization mechanism around the discontinuous transition is reminiscent of spinodal decomposition.