Phase-field-crystal model of phase and microstructural stability in driven nanocrystalline systems.

We present a phase-field-crystal model for driven systems which describes competing effects between thermally activated diffusional processes and those driven by externally imposed ballistic events. The model demonstrates how the mesoscopic Enrique and Bellon [Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 2885 (2000)] model of externally induced ballistic mixing can be incorporated into the atomistic phase-field-crystal formalism. The combination of the two approaches results in a model capable of describing the microstructural and compositional evolution of a driven system while incorporating elastoplastic effects. The model is applied to the study of grain growth in nanocrystalline materials subjected to an external driving.