Modification of the Avrami model for application to the kinetics of the melt crystallization of lipids

The Avrami model was developed to model the kinetics of crystallization and growth of a simple metal system. The original assumptions of the model do not apply for high-volume-fraction crystallizing lipids, although it is incorrectly and frequently applied. A modified form of the Avrami model, wellsuited to complex lipid crystallization kinetics, is developed. It produces excellent fits to experimental data and allows the prediction of physically meaningful parameters, such as changes in nucleation rate and type, growth rate, morphology, and dimensionality. Morphological changes highlighted by time-resolved temperature-controlled polarized light microscopy support its application to crystallizing lipids. The kinetics of crystallization for six separate lipid samples were monitored by pulsed NMR, and fits were performed using the classical and modified Avrami model. In all cases, the modified model provided superior fits to the data compared with that of the classical model. The modified model supports the theory that lipids crystallize and grow into networks via very specific growth modes. Furthermore, the case is made that it is useful for interpreting crystallization kinetics of other systems such as polymer melts, which have nonconstant growth rates, dimensionalities, and nucleation conditions, and whose growth become diffusion-limited within specific regimes.