Freezing of Domain Growth in Cubic Solids with Elastic Misfit

Abstract

We simulate two-dimensional spinodal decomposition of binary alloys, taking into account both cubic elasticity and the difference of the shear modulus between two phases (elastic misfit). The cubic anisotropy leads to emergence of rectangular domains, while the elastic misfit produces a percolated network of softer regions wrapping harder domains and serves to dramatically slow down the coarsening. The resultant domain structures closely resemble real microstructures in cubic solids.