A phase-field model for quasi-incompressible solid–liquid transitions

Abstract

According to a unified thermodynamic scheme, we derive the general kinetic equation ruling the phase-field evolution in a binary quasi-incompressible mixture for both transition and separation phenomena. When diffusion effects are negligible in comparison with source and production terms, a solid–liquid phase transition induced by temperature and pressure variations is obtained. In particular, we recover the explicit expression of the liquid–pressure curve separating the solid from the liquid stability regions in the pressure–temperature plane. Consistently with physical evidence, its slope is positive (negative) for substances which compress (expand) during the freezing process.