Homogeneous nucleation for superheated crystal

Homogeneous nucleation of liquid droplets in superheated crystals is considered in order to estimate the maximum superheating of crystals. Using the previously derived universal order parameter model of the crystal-melt transition (Iwamatsu M and Horii K 1996 J. Phys. Soc. Japan 65 2311), it is determined that the catastrophic homogeneous nucleation occurs at , where is the equilibrium melting point. This numerical estimation is consistent with the results of maximum-superheating experiments.