KINETICS OF MARTENSITIC PHASE TRANSITIONS: LATTICE MODEL

Martensitic phase transitions are often modeled by mixed-type hyperbolic-elliptic systems. Such systems lead to ill-posed initial-value problems unless they are supplemented by an additional kinetic relation. In this paper we explicitly compute an appropriate closing relation by replacing the continuum model with its natural discrete prototype. The procedure can be viewed as either regularization by discretization or a physically motivated account of underlying discrete microstructure. We model phase boundaries by traveling wave solutions of a fully inertial discrete model for a bi-stable lattice with harmonic long-range interactions. Although the microscopic model is Hamiltonian, it generates macroscopic dissipation which can be specified in the form of a relation between the velocity of the discontinuity and the conjugate configurational force. This kinetic relation respects entropy inequality but is not a consequence of the usual Rankine-Hugoniot jump conditions. According to the constructed solution, the dissipation at the macrolevel is due to the induced radiation of lattice waves carrying energy away from the propagating front. We show that sufficiently strong nonlocality of the lattice model may be responsible for the multivaluedness of the kinetic relation and can quantitatively affect kinetics in the near-sonic region. Direct numerical simulations of the transient dynamics suggest stability of at least some of the computed traveling waves.