Recrystallization

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process refers to the transition in which a solid forms a new crystalline lattice structure through the application of heat and subsequent cooling
2. This term signifies the method by which a solid is altered to achieve a different arrangement of its crystalline structure via thermal manipulation
3. The procedure involves transforming a solid into a new structure by heating it to induce a change in its crystalline arrangement during cooling

Etymology: Recrystallization is a compound built from two parts that each have long histories. The prefix "re-" comes from Latin, where it meant "again" or "back," and it reached English through Old French. The base, "crystallization," is formed from "crystal," which passed into Middle English from Latin and Greek roots connected to ice, and from the verb "crystallize," itself built on the suffix "-ize," which is ultimately Greek in origin. Chemists and mineralogists simply stacked these familiar pieces together: "re-" added to "crystallization" gives the sense of crystallizing a second time. The word therefore describes a process rather than an object, and its logic is entirely literal. A material that has already formed crystals is melted or heated, then allowed to cool so that a new crystal structure forms. Metallurgists use this when they anneal metals, and chemists use it to purify substances, since the new crystals tend to exclude impurities.

Synonyms: reformation, reorganization