Modeling the structure of liquids and crystals using one- and two-component modified phase-field crystal models

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2012 Jun;85(6 Pt 1):061408. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.85.061408. Epub 2012 Jun 21.

Abstract

A modified phase-field crystal model in which the free energy may be minimized by an order parameter profile having isolated bumps is investigated. The phase diagram is calculated in one and two dimensions and we locate the regions where modulated and uniform phases are formed and also regions where localized states are formed. We investigate the effectiveness of the phase-field crystal model for describing fluids and crystals with defects. We further consider a two-component model and elucidate how the structure transforms from hexagonal crystalline ordering to square ordering as the concentration changes. Our conclusion contains a discussion of possible interpretations of the order parameter field.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Colloids / chemistry*
  • Colloids / radiation effects*
  • Computer Simulation
  • Crystallization / methods*
  • Models, Chemical*
  • Models, Molecular*
  • Phase Transition
  • Rheology / methods*
  • Solutions / chemistry*

Substances

  • Colloids
  • Solutions