Solutions to a coupled Cahn–Hilliard-phase-field-crystal model for grain boundary motion

Abstract

In this paper, we consider an initial–boundary value problem (IBVP) of a coupled Cahn–Hilliard-phase-field-crystal (CH-PFC) system subject to homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions in one spatial dimension. This CH-PFC model couples the composition field of a diffusing species with the crystallographic and can be used to model the diffusion-induced grain boundary migration in crystalline materials. Under suitable assumptions on the coefficients and initial data, we prove that the IBVP possesses a global weak solution. Our existence proof, which contributes to the verification of the model, is only valid in one space dimension.