PHASE-TRANSITION MECHANISMS FOR THE PHASE-FIELD MODEL UNDER INTERNAL HEATING

A study is made of models for the phase-transition dynamics of systems in one space dimension with latent heat whose only field variables are an order parameter and temperature. The processes by which a material in the ordered state undergoes phase transition due to internal heating is explored by numerical simulation and analyses based thereon. Besides externally induced nucleation and transitions through a fine-grained phase-mixture state analogous to spinodal decomposition, there is a type of self-induced nucleation mechanism occurring in some parameter ranges.