INTERPARTICLE EFFECT ON CRYSTAL GROWTH - AgBr SYSTEM.

Growth rates of AgBr crystals in a double-jet precipitation are influenced by interparticle distance. Critical growth rates obtained at the critical supersaturation condition increase with decreasing interparticle distance. This interparticle effect is explained by a crowded diffusion-controlled growth model developed by R. Jagannathan and J. S. Wey and is represented by a ″crowding factor″ eta , which depends on crystal size, diffusion layer thickness, and interparticle distance. The value of eta is unity for a noncrowded system and is greater than one for a crowded system. The diffusion layer thickness is about 1. 2-1. 8 mu m and independent of crystal size. The contribution of the surface integration step to the overall AgBr growth process is insignificant compared to the diffusion step.