Digital-image-based models of two-dimensional microstructural evolution by surface diffusion and vapor transport

A new and versatile model of capillary-driven microstructural evolution is described. The model operates on digital images of microstructures, and uses the local phase distribution to form an interpolated ''equivalent sharp surface.'' Local surface properties, like outward normal vectors and curvatures, are calculated and local driving forces for mass transport are determined using standard irreversible thermodynamic concepts. Mass transport kinetics are simulated using discretized rate laws for a specified path and rate-controlling step. Models of surface diffusion and of surface-attachment-limited kinetics are described and applied to several systems. Results for simple microstructures agree well with analytical predictions of transport rates and scaring laws, and useful quantitative information is extracted from simulations on more complex microstructures for which analytical predictions do not exist. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.