The Role of the Diffusion Mechanism in Models of the Evolution of Microstructure During Phase Separation

We have studied phase separation and subsequent coarsening of the microstructure in a two-dimensional square lattice using a stochastic Monte Carlo model and a deterministic mean field model. The differences and similarities between these approaches are discussed. We have found that a realistic diffusion mechanism through a vacancy motion in Monte Carlo simulations is cruicial in producing different coarsening mechanisms over a range of temperatures. This cannot be captured by the mean field model, in which the transformation is governed by the minimization of a free energy functional.