Phase-field modeling of multi-phase solidification

A phase-field model for a general class of multi-phase metallic alloys is now proposed which describes both multi-phase solidification phenomena as well as polycrystalline grain structures. The model serves as a computational method to simulate the motion and kinetics of multiple phase boundaries and enables the visualization of the diffusion processes and of the phase transitions in multi-phase systems. Numerical simulations are presented which illustrate the capability of the phase-field model to recover a variety of complex experimental growth structures. In particular, the phase-field model can be used to simulate microstructure evolutions in eutectic, peritectic and monotectic alloys. In addition, polycrystalline grain structures with effects such as wetting, grain growth, symmetry properties of adjacent triple junctions in thin film samples and stability criteria at multiple junctions are described by phase-field simulations. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.