In this paper the relationship between the classical density functional theory of freezing and phase-field modeling is examined. More specifically a connection is made between the correlation functions that enter density functional theory and the free energy functionals used in phase-field crystal modeling and standard models of binary alloys (i.e., regular solution model). To demonstrate the properties of the phase-field crystal formalism a simple model of binary alloy crystallization is derived and shown to simultaneously model solidification, phase segregation, grain growth, elastic and plastic deformations in anisotropic systems with multiple crystal orientations on diffusive time scales.

• Received 7 July 2006

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.75.064107