Integrated unified phase-field modeling (UPFM)

Abstract

For a long time, the phase-field method has been considered a mesoscale phenomenological method that lacks physical accuracy and is unable to be closely linked to the mechanical or functional properties of materials. Some misunderstandings existing in these viewpoints need to be clarified. Therefore, it is necessary to propose or adopt the perspective of “unified phase-field modeling (UPFM)” to address these issues, which means that phase-field modeling has multiple unified characteristics. Specifically, the phase-field method is the perfect unity of thermodynamics and kinetics, the unity of multi-scale models from micro- to meso and then to macro, the unity of internal or/and external driving energy with order parameters as field variables, the unity of multiple physical fields, and thus the unity of material composition design, process optimization, microstructure control, and performance prediction. It is precisely because the phase-field approach has these unified characteristics that, after more than 40 years of development, it has been increasingly widely applied in materials science and engineering.