Paraelectric-ferroelectric interface dynamics induced by latent heat transfer and irreversible thermodynamics of ferroelectric phase transitions

The temperature gradients that arise in the paraelectric-ferroelectric interface dynamics induced by the latent heat transfer are studied from the point of view that a ferroelectric phase transition is a stationary, thermal-electric coupled transport process. The local entropy production is derived for a ferroelectric phase transition system from the Gibbs equation. Three type regions of the system are described well by using the Onsager relations and the principle of minimum entropy production. The theory coincides with the experiments.