Abstract
In this work, we apply phase field simulations to examine the coarsening behavior of morphologically complex two-phase microstructures in which the phases have highly dissimilar mobilities, a condition approaching that found in experimental solid-liquid systems. Specifically, we consider a two-phase system at the critical composition (50% volume fraction) in which the mobilities of the two phases differ by a factor of 100. This system is simulated in two and three dimensions using the Cahn-Hilliard model with a concentration-dependent mobility, and results are compared to simulations with a constant mobility. A morphological transition occurs during coarsening of the two-dimensional system (corresponding to a thin film geometry) with dissimilar mobilities, resulting in a system of nearly-circular particles of high-mobility phase embedded in a low-mobility matrix. This morphological transition causes the coarsening rate constant to decrease over time, which explains why a previous study found lack of agreement with the theoretical t1/3 power law. Three-dimensional systems with dissimilar mobilities resulted in bicontinuous microstructures that evolve self-similarly, as determined by quantitative analysis of the interfacial shape distribution. Coarsening kinetics in three dimensions agreed closely with the t1/3 power law after the initial transient stage. A model is derived to explain a nearly-linear relationship between the coarsening rate constant and the variance of scaled mean curvature that is observed during this transient stage.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 109418 |
Journal | Computational Materials Science |
Volume | 173 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 15 2020 |
Keywords
- Coarsening
- Morphology
- Phase field modeling
- Scaling
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Computer Science(all)
- Chemistry(all)
- Materials Science(all)
- Mechanics of Materials
- Physics and Astronomy(all)
- Computational Mathematics