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Elastic stress effects on microstructural instabilities

This review is on the phase field modelling studies in elastic stress effects on microstructural instabilities. We will focus primarily on four elastic stress driven instabilities: (i) Spinodal phase separation; (ii) Particle splitting; (iii) Rafting; and, (iv) Asaro-Tiller-Grinfeld (ATG) instabilities. This review is organised as follows: in Section 1, we briefly describe some of the important and interesting experimental observations on elastic stress effects on microstructural instabilities; in Section 2, we describe, in reasonable detail, the theoretical developments in understanding the effects of elastic stress on microstructural instabilities in solids. Both Section 1 and 2 are neither comprehensive nor complete; however, they are helpful in setting the stage for discussion of (and, in giving a perspective on) phase field modelling studies that will be discussed in Section 3. In Section 4, we conclude with a summary and indication of future directions.