Ferroelastic dynamics and strain compatibility

We derive underdamped evolution equations for the order-parameter (OP) strains of a proper ferroelastic material undergoing a structural transition, using Lagrangian variations with Rayleigh dissipation, and a free energy as a polynomial expansion in the (formula presented) symmetry-adapted strains. The (formula presented) strain equations are structurally similar in form to the Lagrange-Rayleigh one-dimensional strain dynamics of Bales and Gooding (BG), with “strain accelerations” proportional to a Laplacian acting on a sum of the free-energy strain derivative and frictional strain force assuming geometric linearity. The tensorial St. Venant’s elastic compatibility constraints that forbid defects, are used to determine the n non-order-parameter strains in terms of the OP strains, generating anisotropic and long-range OP contributions to the free energy, friction, and noise. The same OP equations are obtained by either varying the displacement vector components, or by varying the N strains subject to the (formula presented) compatibility constraints. A Fokker-Planck equation, based on the BG dynamics in more than one dimension with noise terms, is set up. The BG dynamics corresponds to a set of nonidentical nonlinear (strain) oscillators labeled by wave vector (formula presented) with competing short- and long-range couplings. The oscillators have different “strain-mass” densities (formula presented) and dampings (formula presented) so the lighter large-(formula presented) oscillators equilibrate first, corresponding to earlier formation of smaller-scale oriented textures. This produces a sequential-scale scenario for post-quench nucleation, elastic patterning, and hierarchical growth. Neglecting inertial effects yields a late-time dynamics for identifying extremal free-energy states, that is, of the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau form, with nonlocal, anisotropic Onsager coefficients that become constants for special parameter values. We consider in detail the two-dimensional (2D) unit-cell transitions from a triangular to a centered rectangular lattice (formula presented) and from a square to a rectangular lattice (formula presented) for which the OP compatibility kernel is retarded in time, or frequency dependent in Fourier space (in fact, acoustically resonant in (formula presented) We present structural dynamics for all other 2D symmetry-allowed proper ferroelastic transitions: the procedure is also applicable to the 3D case. Simulations of the BG evolution equations confirm the inherent richness of the static and dynamic texturings, including strain oscillations, domain-wall propagation at near-sound speeds, grain-boundary motion, and nonlocal “elastic photocopying” of imposed local stress patterns.