PHASE-FIELD MODELING OF ELASTIC EFFECTS IN EUTECTIC GROWTH WITH MISFIT STRESSES

Abstract

Elastic interactions, arising from a difference of lattice spacing between two coherent phases in eutectic alloys with misfit stresses, can have an influence on microstructural pattern formation of eutectic colonies during solidification process. From a thermodynamic point of view the elastic energy contributes to the free energy of the phases and modifies their mutual stability. Therefore, the elastic stresses will have an effect on stability of lamellae, lamellae spacing and growth modes. In this paper, a phase-field model is employed to investigate the influence of elastic misfits in eutectic growth. The model reduces to the traditional sharp-interface model in a thin-interface limit, where the microscopic interface width is small but finite. An elastic model is designed, based on linear microelasticity theory, to incorporate the elastic energy in the phase-field model. Theoretical and numerical approaches, required to model elastic effects, are formulated and the stress distributions in eutectic solidification structures are evaluated. The two-dimensional simulations are performed for directed eutectic growth and the simulation results for different values of the misfit stresses are illustrated.