Spinodal decomposition in elastically anisotropic inhomogeneous systems in the presence of an applied traction

The nonlinear diffusion equation governing mass flow in an elastically anisotropic, inhomogeneous system with applied tractions is developed for arbitrary crystal symmetry. The linearized version of the equation is solved using standard Fourier methods and the spinodal region of the material is identified and examined for systems with either cubic or isotropic symmetry in the presence of hydrostatic, uniaxial, and pure shear stresses. The resulting change in the onset of the spinodal instability and the morphology of the decomposed system is discussed. Using this approach, we derive a nonlinear Cahn-Hilliard equation for an elastically inhomogeneous system.