The Influence of Electric and Magnetic Fields on Microstructure in Multiferroic Composite Materials - a Phase-Field-Crystal Approach

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The ability to use external electric and magnetic fields to influence the microstructure in polycrystalline materials has potential applications in microstructural engineering. To explore this potential and to understand the complex interactions between electromagnetic fields and solid-state matter transport we consider a phase-field-crystal (PFC) model that captures the basic physics of magneto- and electrocrystalline interactions for multiferroic composite materials. In the first founding period we have concentrated on two aspects: first the influence of magnetic fields in the PFC model, to understand the basic phenomena and second a coarse graining of the PFC model towards an amplitude expansion (APFC) model to enable 3D simulations. We will bring both approaches together and add additional features step by step until we arrive at a multiferroic composite (A)PFC model. Together with efficient and scalable numerical algorithms this will allow 2D and 3D simulations, which will be used to examine the role of external electric and magnetic fields on the evolution of defect structures and grain boundaries, on diffusion time scales. Large scale simulations in 2D and 3D will also allow to obtain statistical data on grain growth under the influence of external fields and to validate with experimental data, e.g., thin film iron samples analyzed in other projects of the SPP1959.