A Hamiltonian approach to the discrete-continuous dynamical systems in diamond-type crystals.
The dynamics of dendritic growth of a crystal in an undercooled melt is determined by macroscopic diffusion-convection of heat and by capillary forces acting on the nanometer scale of the solid-liquid interface width. Its modelling is useful for instance in processing techniques based on casting. The phase-field method is widely used to study evolution of such microstructural phase transformations on a continuum level; it couples the energy equation to a phenomenological Allen-Cahn/Ginzburg-Landau equation...
Controlling growth at crystalline surfaces requires a detailed and quantitative understanding of the thermodynamic and kinetic parameters governing mass transport. Many of these parameters can be determined by analyzing the isothermal wandering of steps at a vicinal [“step-terrace”] type surface [for a recent review see [4]]. In the case of crystals one finds that these meanderings develop larger amplitudes as the equilibrium temperature is raised (as is consistent with the statistical mechanical...
Controlling growth at crystalline surfaces requires a detailed and quantitative understanding of the thermodynamic and kinetic parameters governing mass transport. Many of these parameters can be determined by analyzing the isothermal wandering of steps at a vicinal [“step-terrace”] type surface [for a recent review see [4]]. In the case of orthodox crystals one finds that these meanderings develop larger amplitudes as the equilibrium temperature is raised (as is consistent with the statistical...
In the 1950’s and 1960’s surface physicists/metallurgists such as Herring and Mullins applied ingenious thermodynamic arguments to explain a number of experimentally observed surface phenomena in crystals. These insights permitted the successful engineering of a large number of alloys, where the major mathematical novelty was that the surface response to external stress was anisotropic. By examining step/terrace (vicinal) surface defects it was discovered through lengthy and tedious experiments...
In the 1950's and 1960's surface physicists/metallurgists such as Herring and Mullins applied ingenious thermodynamic arguments to explain a number of experimentally observed surface phenomena in crystals. These insights permitted the successful engineering of a large number of alloys, where the major mathematical novelty was that the surface response to external stress was anisotropic. By examining step/terrace (vicinal) surface defects it was discovered through lengthy and tedious experiments...
Asymptotic behavior of solutions of an area-preserving crystalline curvature flow equation is investigated. In this equation, the area enclosed by the solution polygon is preserved, while its total interfacial crystalline energy keeps on decreasing. In the case where the initial polygon is essentially admissible and convex, if the maximal existence time is finite, then vanishing edges are essentially admissible edges. This is a contrast to the case where the initial polygon is admissible and convex:...