Elastic Stress Effects on Microstructural Instabilities

Abstract

Phase field modelling, which is ideal for the study of the formation and evolution of microstructures, has been used extensively to study the effect of elastic stresses on microstructural instabilities. In this review, we focus primarily on four elastic stress driven instabilities, namely (i) Spinodal phase separation; (ii) Particle splitting; (iii) Rafting; and, (iv) Asaro-Tiller-Grinfeld (ATG) instabilities, and, review the phase field studies of these instabilities. The review begins with a brief description of some of the important and interesting experimental observations followed by a reasonably detailed description of the theoretical developments. Both the description of experimental observations and the theoretical developments are neither comprehensive nor complete; however, they are helpful in setting the stage for discussion of (and, in giving a perspective on) phase field modelling studies on elastic stress effects on instabilities. We conclude with a summary and indication of future directions.