Phase-Field Crystal Modeling of Materials Structural Evolution in the Presence of Pores

The presence of pores in materials plays an important role on the evolution their microstructure and can significantly affect their mechanical properties including their fatigue life. We formulate a continuum approach, based on phase-field crystal (PFC) model to numerically investigate the effect of nanoscale pores in two-dimensional materials. We found that nanoscale pores act as a nucleation agent promoting crystallization at the interface between the material and the pore, followed by dendritic growth of the crystal in the supercooled liquid. Detailed results of the effects of the pore's geometry and size, and interfacial tension between the material and the pore, on the crystallization of the material will be presented and discussed.