Hydrodynamic effects on phase separation of binary mixtures with reversible chemical reaction

The hydrodynamic effect on the phase separation dynamics of chemically reacting binary mixtures is investigated based on the extended model H. Our simulation results reveal that many interesting patterns are obtained under different chemical reaction rates due to the coupling of hydrodynamics and chemical reaction. For the case of high reaction rate, when the average order parameter at equilibrium is equal to zero, spiral structures appear due to the delicate coupling between the hydrodynamic flow and chemical reaction regardless of the value of initial order parameter. When the chemical reaction rate is low, the pattern observed under the critical quench seems like the result of double phase separation. On the other hand, under the off-critical quench, at the same low chemical reaction rate, phase inversion behavior is observed, and it is aggravated under the hydrodynamic flow. Moreover, the domain growth kinetics under both critical and off-critical quenches is investigated. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.