Growth regimes in phase ordering transformations (Q2469451)

The paper presents the solution of three problems, namely: (i) to formulate and integrate growth and dynamic shape equations using classical liquid crystal models for phase ordering transitions, (ii) to show using the dynamic shape equation that anisotropic nucleation and growth lead to interfacial disclination defect shedding which charges the growing drops with high strength topological defects due to the process distinctive from the classical phase ordering Kibble mechanism, (iii) to demonstrate that shape and growth dynamics models for phase ordering of soft anisotropic materials have direct analoga to the models used to describe crystalline materials. The liquid crystal growth equation and the curvature dynamic equation are derived by using the Landau-de Gennes (LdeG) force balance equation. They have the same forms as the hard crystal analoga. The LCDE is used to analyze anisotropic nucleation interfacial defect shedding and texturing observed by numerical simulation of two-dimensional phase ordering based on the LdeG free energy model. The initial anisotropic nucleation follows closely the Wulff construction and is due to anisotropic interfacial tension which results in non-circular shapes for the domain of the new phase. It is shown that in the early stages of phase ordering, anisotropic shape dynamics becomes a texturing process driven by interfacial defect shedding. Interfacial loop defect solutions of the reaction-diffusion curvature equation occur as two curvatures corresponding to uniaxial and biaxial states evolve from the initial uniform orientation. Loop shedding into the interior presents an intra-droplet texturing mechanism distinctive from the classical Kibble inter-droplet mechanism. Interfacial defect shedding is the mechanism by which a non-circular anisotropic nematic domain evolves into a circular spherulite. Numerical simulations of the governing LdeG equations in conjunction with analysis of the liquid crystal growth equation reveal that linear growth occurs for deep and shallow quenches, and the growth law observed experimentally is consistent with the predicted results.