A Regularized Sharp Interface Model for Phase Transformation Accounting for Prescribed Sharp Interface Kinetics

The macroscopic mechanical behavior of multi-phasic materials depends on the formation and evolution of their microstructure by means of phase transformation. In case of martensitic transformations, the resulting phase boundaries are sharp interfaces. We carry out a geometrically motivated discussion of the regularization of such sharp interfaces by use of an order parameter/phase-field and exploit the results for a regularized sharp interface model for two-phase elastic materials with evolving phase boundaries. To account for the dissipative effects during phase transition, we model the material as a generalized standard medium with energy storage and a dissipation function that determines the evolution of the regularized interface. Making use of the level-set equation, we are thereby able to directly translate prescribed sharp interface kinetic relations to the constitutive model in the regularized setting. We develop a suitable incremental variational three-field framework for the dissipative phase transformation problem. Finally, the modeling capability and the associated numerical solution techniques are demonstrated by means of a representative numerical example. (© 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)