Phase field model of dielectric and magnetic composites

Phase field model is developed to calculate heterogeneous distributions of polarization, charge, local field, and effective susceptibility of dielectric and magnetic composites with arbitrary multicomponent microstructures. It solves electrostatic and magnetostatic equations in terms of polarization vector field in reciprocal Fourier space, with interphase boundary conditions automatically satisfied without explicitly tracking interphase interfaces. This advantage allows the model to effectively treat arbitrarily complex multicomponent composites and seamlessly incorporate evolving microstructures from composite fabrication simulations. Evolution of internal field distributions and effective properties in composites during self-assembly fabrication process is presented to demonstrate the model's capability and potential. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3446842]