Simulating Phase Coarsening of Ultra-High Volume Fractions

Abstract

The dynamics of phase coarsening at ultra-high volume fractions is studied based on two-dimensional phase-field simulations by numerically solving the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau and Cahn-Hilliard equations. The kinetics of phase coarsening at ultra-high volume fractions is discovered. The microstructural evolutions for different ultra-high volume fractions are shown. The scaled particle size distribution as functions of the dispersoid volume fraction is presented. The particle size distribution derived from our simulation at ultra-high volume fractions is close to Wagner's particle size distribution due to interface-controlled ripening rather than Hillert's grain size distribution in grain growth. The changes of shapes of particles are carefully studied with increase of volume fraction. It is found that more liquid-filled triple junctions are formed as a result of particle shape accommodation with increase of volume fraction at the regime of ultra-high volume fraction.