Non-uniqueness of late-time scaling states in spinodal decomposition

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that the late-time scaling state in spinodal decomposition is not unique, showing different growth laws and morphologies depending on initial conditions through lattice Boltzmann simulations.

Contribution

It reveals the non-uniqueness of late-time scaling states in spinodal decomposition and identifies a new dispersed droplet morphology with a specific growth law.

Findings

Different late-time growth laws observed

Existence of a dispersed droplet scaling state

Growth law L ~ t^{1/2} confirmed

Abstract

In this letter we show that the late-time scaling state in spinodal decomposition is not unique. We performed lattice Boltzmann simulations of the phase-ordering of a 50%-50% binary mixture using as initial conditions for the phase-ordering both a symmetric morphology that was created by symmetric spinodal decomposition and a morphology of one phase dispersed in the other, created by viscoelastic spinodal decomposition. We found two different growth laws at late times, although both simulations differ only in the early time dynamics. The new scaling state consists of dispersed droplets. The growth law associated with this scaling state is consistent with a $L\sim t^{1/2}$ scaling law.