Viscosity and Strain Gradient Effects on the Kinetics of Propagating Phase Boundaries in Solids.

Abstract

The theory of thermoelastic materials undergoing solid-solid phase transformations requires constitutive information that governs the evolution of a phase boundary. This is known as a kinetic relation which relates a driving traction to the speed of propagation of a phase boundary. The kinetic relation is prescribed in the theory from the onset. Here, though, a special kinetic relation is derived from an augmented theory that includes viscous, strain gradient and heat conduction effects. Based on a special class of solutions, namely travelling waves, the kinetic relation is inherited from the augmented theory as the viscosity, strain gradient and heat conductivity are removed by a suitable limit process.