committee

Numerical methods based on the phase-field method have become an indispensable and extremely versatile tool in materials science and physics. The method typically operates on the mesoscopic length scale and provides important information on the morphological changes in materials by mapping interfacial motions of physically separated regions. Diffuse interfacial parameterization can be used to model the temporal and spatial evolution of an arbitrarily complex multiphase, multicomponent, and polycrystalline microstructure in materials without making additional assumptions about shape or mutual distribution. An outstanding feature of the methodology is the possibility to take into account different physical driving forces for interfacial motion such as diffusive, electrochemical, mechanical, etc. influences can be taken into account. Furthermore, large scale numerical simulations can be implemented by a numerical solution of the coupled multi-physics differential equations on high-performance computers.

The outstanding properties of describing moving singular surfaces involving different physical driving forces make the phase field method extremely versatile. It is used as a numerical method for modeling a variety of microstructural processes. Insights into microstructure-property relationships can be derived from simulation studies and summarized in morphology diagrams. Thus, various phase field models with integration of different physical quantities such as continuum mechanics, fluid mechanics, electrochemistry, magnetism, etc. based on Ginzburg-Landau theory or on Griffith's criterion, models based on Cahn-Hillard, Landau-Lifschits-Gilbert, Landau-Ginsburg-Devonshire theory have developed in the different research communities. The goal of the DGM Working Group is to bring the different communities together to discuss the phase field related modeling issues that have a common origin.