Phase field modeling of crystal growth with nonlinear kinetics

The phase field model has emerged as a powerful tool for the simulation of crystal growth. With the thin-interface approximation, the interface thickness could be greatly relaxed to the length scale of microstructures. So far, the model is used only for linear kinetics. However, nonlinear kinetics, where the kinetic coefficient is a function of temperature or velocity, is often encountered in crystal growth, particularly for faceted growth. In this paper, we propose numerical methods to the thin-interface phase field model for nonlinear kinetics. Besides the benchmarking with the available solutions, an example on a facet growth that develops into different morphologies with different undercoolings is simulated for the first time.

► Numerical algorithms for the thin-interface phase-field model with nonlinear kinetics. ► The kinetic coefficient as a function of the interface undercooling, the kinetic undercooling, QUOTE QUOTE or the interface velocity. ► Good agreements with available solutions and consistent with the modified Gibbs-Thompson equation. ► The morphological transition due to undercooling is simulated for the first time.