Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2011
We investigate the energetics of structure changes in small particles, a phenomena recently observed by high resolution electron microscopy. The energy variations during transformations from a single crystal to symmetric and asymmetric decahedral multiply twinned particle (MTP) structures are evaluated. We examine briefly a few possible energy gain mechanisms during the particle-beam interaction which enable the particles to cross the activation energy barriers and fluctuate between various local energy minima of the morphological potential energy surface.