Stochastic Effects in Microstructure

We are currently studying microstructural responses to diffusion-limited coarsening in two-phase materials. A mathematical solution to late-stage multiparticle diffusion in finite systems is formulated with account taken of particle-particle interactions and their microstructural correlations, or "locales". The transition from finite system behavior to that for an infinite microstructure is established analytically. Large-scale simulations of late-stage phase coarsening dynamics show increased fluctuations with increasing volume fraction, Vv, of the mean flux entering or leaving particles of a...