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Abstract

“Phase-field” models are based on many misunderstandings. The original meaning of a
“phase-field” is the region in composition space of an alloy system where a single phase is
stable. The word was adopted by Caginalp to describe an indicator variable which
distinguishes between two states of a material in different regions of real space. From this the
so-called “solidification models” were developed in the early 1990th. Finally, because of the
overwhelming success of “phase-field” in the materials community, second order phase
transformation models, originally named “Cahn-Hilliard” or
“time-dependent-Ginsburg-Landau” models were signed under the new brand “phase-field”.
The talk will clarify the relation between second-order, first-order phase and indicator-field
models. The multi-phase-field model will be reformulated as a general model for
heterogeneous non-equilibria.
In the second part of the talk the open source phase field simulation library “OpenPhase” will
be presented. It comprises modules for solving the multi-phase field equations for
heterogeneous non-equilibria, equations for advection and diffusion of different components,
Navier-Stokes equation for a liquid phase flow including the interaction with solid structures
and elastic problems. The modular structure of the library allows for easy extension and
modification by adding new modules. Several benchmark studies will be presented. The
library is distributed in the form of an open source code which is available at
www.OpenPhase.de
Acknowledgement. The Authors like to thank the sponsors of ICAMS, ThyssenKrupp Steel
AG, Salzgitter Mannesmann Forschung GmbH, Robert Bosch GmbH, Bayer Materials
Science AG and Bayer Technology Services GmbH, Benteler AG, the state of North
Rhine-Westphalia and the European community.

References
[1] I. Steinbach, Phase-field models in materials science, Mod. Sim. Mat. Science. Engin.
(2009) pp. 073001-31