Kinetics of the establishment of steady homogeneous condensation of a supersaturated vapor

The kinetics of the establishment of steady homogeneous condensation is investigated on the basis of an equation for the size spectrum of nucleating centers valid at both high and low supersaturations. In each unit of volume of the system it is assumed that there is a source of condensing matter of constant power and a sink for the nucleating centers of the new phase that reach a definite size. Conditions are formulated under which the steady process will be a stable final state of the system. It is shown that the microscopic correction in the expression for the work of formation of a nucleating center associated with the dependence of the surface tension on the curvature of the surface of the nucleating center plays a decisive role in determining the values of the parameters of the system that admit the establishment of a steady process. The characteristic times of establishment of the steady process are determined.