Binary alloys separation in thin capillaries

Phase separation in elastically coupled binary alloys

I review some of the theory[1–4] behind microstructure formation in the phase separation of binary alloys, in particular how compositional changes in a material can be affected by elastic properties of the alloy. This is done by considering a Landau-Ginzburg theory of binary alloy with an elastic interaction and solving for the elastic interactions. I also describe how finite sized confined gra...

Influence of mobile dislocations on phase separation in binary alloys

We introduce a continuum model to describe the phase separation of a binary alloy in the presence of mobile dislocations. The kinetics of the local composition and dislocation density are coupled through their elastic fields. We show both analytically and numerically that mobile dislocations modify the standard spinodal decomposition process, and lead to several regimes of growth. Depending on ...

Telephone-cord instabilities in thin smectic capillaries.

Telephone-cord patterns have been recently observed in smectic liquid-crystal capillaries. We analyze the effects that may induce them. As long as the capillary keeps its linear shape, we show that a nonzero chiral cholesteric pitch favors the Sm-A*-Sm-C* transition. However, neither the cholesteric pitch nor the presence of an intrinsic bending stress is able to give rise to a curved capillary...

Surface segregation in binary alloys

Numerical Studies of Phase Separation in Models of Binary Alloys and Polymer Blends

We review some recent results concerning numerical studies of the CahnHilliard equation in three dimensions to describe the phase separation process in a mixture after a quench within the coexistence curve. We focus on the late time behavior for two experimentally relevant systems: binary alloys and binary polymer blends. We find that, in both systems, dynamical scaling with a time dependent ch...