This paper introduces numerical time discretization methods which significantly improve the accuracy of the convexity-splitting approach of Eyre (Unconditionally gradient stable time marching the Cahn-Hilliard equation, MRS Proceedings, vol. 529, 1998), while retaining the same numerical cost and stability properties. A first order method is constructed by iteration of a semi-implicit method based upon decomposing the energy into convex and concave parts. A second order method is also presented based on backwards differentiation formulas. Several extrapolation procedures for iteration initialization are proposed. We show that, under broad circumstances, these methods have an energy decreasing property, leading to good numerical stability. The new schemes are tested using two evolution equations commonly used in materials science: the Cahn-Hilliard equation and the phase field crystal equation. We find that our methods can increase accuracy by many orders of magnitude in comparison to the original convexitysplitting algorithm. In addition, the optimal methods require little or no iteration, making their computation cost similar to the original algorithm.
The influence of electric fields on lamellar block copolymer microstructure is studied in the context of a density functional model and its sharp interface limit. A free boundary problem for domain interfaces of strongly segregated polymers is derived, which includes coupling of interface and electric field orientation. The linearized dynamics of lamellar configurations is computed in this context, leading to quantitative criteria for instability as a function of pattern wavelength, field magnitude, and orientation. Numerical simulations of the full model in two and three dimensions are used to study the nonlinear development of instabilities. In three dimensions, sufficiently large electric field magnitude always leads to instability. In two dimensions, the field has either stabilizing or destabilizing effects depending on the misorientation of the field and pattern. Even when linear instabilities are present, the dynamics can lead to stable corrugated domain interfaces which do not align with the electric field. Sufficiently high field strengths, on the other hand, produce topological rearrangement which may lead to alignment.
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