Size effects on spinodal decomposition

Abstract

Abstract We examine the influence of grains size on the stability of polycrystalline coherent binary solid solutions. By assuming that the grains are isotropic, we find that the tendency for instability decreases as the radius of the grains decrease. We also find that a temperature-dependent critical grain radius exists below which the tendency for instability vanishes and the grains are stable, with respect to infinitesimal composition fluctuations, for any initial composition. We find that the critical grain radius decreases monotonically as the temperature decrease. If the radius of the grains is smaller than the minimum critical grain radius the grains are stable for any temperature and initial composition.