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Title: Two- and three-dimensional equilibrium morphology of a misfitting particle and the Gibbs-Thomson effect

Journal Article · · Acta Materialia
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [2];  [3]
  1. Department of Applied Mathematics, Illinois Institute of Technology, 10 West 32nd Street, Chicago, IL 60616 (United States)
  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208 (United States)
  3. Department of Mathematics, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-3875 (United States)

The equilibrium shapes of misfitting precipitates in elastically anisotropic systems are obtained in both two and three dimensions, and the corresponding Gibbs-Thomson equation is derived as a function of the characteristic ratio between elastic and interfacial energies, L'. The effect of elastic inhomogeneity is investigated systematically. For soft or moderately hard particles, the stable equilibrium shape bifurcates from a fourfold symmetric shape to a twofold symmetric one in 2D and from a cubic symmetric shape to a plate-like one in 3D. For a very hard particle, the shape bifurcation is not observed in 2D for the range of L' investigated, but both plate-like and rod-like shapes are found in 3D. The computed Gibbs-Thomson equation is well approximated by a piecewise linear function of L'. Predictions are made for coarsening of many-particle systems based on an established mean-field theory. The results predict that the elastic stress has no effect on coarsening kinetics where most particles are highly symmetric (fourfold in 2D and cubic in 3D), and the exponent remains 1/3 but the rate constant increases if stress is sufficient to induce symmetry-breaking bifurcation on most particles.

OSTI ID:
20634818
Journal Information:
Acta Materialia, Vol. 52, Issue 20; Other Information: DOI: 10.1016/j.actamat.2004.08.041; PII: S1359-6454(04)00530-0; Copyright (c) 2004 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1359-6454
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English