Phase-field simulation of 2-D Ostwald ripening in the high volume fraction regime

• Published in: Acta materialia Vol. 50; no. 8; pp. 1895 - 1907
• Main Authors: Fan, Danan, Chen, S.P., Chen, Long-Qing, Voorhees, P.W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 08.05.2002; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Exact sciences and technology; Materials science; Metals. Metallurgy; Ostwald ripening; Phase field models; Phase transformations; Physics; Solid solution hardening, precipitation hardening, and dispersion hardening; aging; Solid solution, precipitation, and dispersion hardening; aging; Treatment of materials and its effects on microstructure and properties; Phase transformations; Ostwald ripening; Phase field models; Volume fraction; Cahn Hilliard equation; Theoretical study; Coalescence; Microstructure; Ginzburg Landau equation; Heat treatments
• ISSN: 1359-6454; 1873-2453
• DOI: 10.1016/S1359-6454(01)00393-7

The microstructural evolution and kinetics of Ostwald ripening were studied in the high volume fraction regime by numerically solving the time-dependent Ginzburg–Landau (TDGL) and Cahn–Hilliard equations. It is shown that the growth exponent m is equal to 3, independent of the volume fraction, and the kinetic coefficient k increases as the volume fraction increases. The shape of size distributions changes significantly with increasing volume fraction of the coarsening phase; the skewness changes continuously from negative to positive while the kurtosis decreases in the low fraction regime and increases in the high volume fraction regime.