The primary objective of this work is to propose a state-of-the-art physics based multiscale modeling framework for simulating material phase change problems. Both ice melting and copper crystallization problems are selected to demonstrate this multiscale modeling and simulation. The computational methods employed in this thesis include: classical molecular dynamics, finite element method, phase-field method, and multiscale (nano/micro coupling) methods. Classical molecular dynamics (MD) is a well-known method to study material behaviors at atomic level. Due to the limit of MD, it is not realistic to provide a complete molecular model for simulations at large length and time scales. Continuum methods, including finite element methods, should be employed in this case. In this thesis, MD is employed to study phase change problems at the nanoscale. In order to study material phase change problems at the microscale, a thermal wave method one-way coupling with the MD and a phase-field method one-way coupling with MD are proposed. The thermal wave method is more accurate than classical thermal diffusion for the study of heat transfer problems especially in crystal based structures. The second model is based on the well-known phase-field method. It is modified to respond to the thermal propagation in the crystal matrix by the thermal wave method, as well as modified to respond to temperature gradients and heat fluxes by employing the Dual-Phase-Lag method. Both methods are coupled with MD to obtain realistic results. It should be noted that MD simulations can be conducted to obtain material/thermal properties for microscopic and/or macroscopic simulations for the purpose of hierarchical/sequential multiscale modeling. These material parameters include thermal conductivity, specific heat, latent heat, and relaxation time. Other type of interfacial parameters that occur during the phase change process, such as nucleus shape, interfacial energy, interfacial thickness, etc., are also obtained by MD simulation since these have so far been too difficult to measure experimentally. I consider two common phase change phenomena, ice melting and copper crystallization, in this thesis. For the case of ice melting, MD is first employed to study its phase change process and obtain thermal properties of ice and water. Several potential models are used. I conduct simulations of both bulk ice and ice/water contacting cases. It is found that various potential models result in similar melting phenomena, especially melting speed. Size effects are also studied and it is found that the melting time is longer for larger bulk ice segments but that the average melting speed is size dependent. There is no size effect for the melting speed at ice/water interface at the nanoscale if the same temperature gradient is applied. The melting speed of ice should depend on the temperature gradient. To study ice melting at the microscale, the thermal wave model is employed with parameters obtained from MD simulations. It is found that ice melting speed is scale, for both length scale and time scale, dependent. For the case of copper crystallization, an EAM potential is first employed to conduct MD simulations for studying the copper crystallization process at the nanoscale. I obtain thermal properties and interfacial parameters, including thermal diffusion coefficient, latent heat, relaxation time, interfacial thickness, interfacial energy and the anisotropy coefficients, and nucleus shape etc. A central symmetry parameter is used to identify an atom in solid state or liquid state. And then an initial nucleus shape is obtained and used as the input for microscale simulation, in which the phase-field method is used to study copper crystallization at the microscale.

<p>     </p> <p>Martensitic transformation underlies the phenomena of super-elasticity within shape memory alloys and the production of advanced steels. Experimentation has demonstrated that defects and microstructural changes strongly influence this process. With simulations granting up to an atomic-level understanding of the impact that grain boundaries and precipitates have upon the solid-to-solid phase transformation. Yet the role that dislocations partake in the martensitic transformation and its microstructures remains unclear or disputed. </p> <p><br></p> <p>Therefore, we utilize large-scale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study the forward and reverse transformation of martensitic material modeled after Ni63Al37 shape via thermal cycling loading. The simulations indicate that dislocations retain martensite well above the martensite start temperature and behave as nucleation sites for the martensite. We found that a reduction in dislocation density with cycle correlated with a decrement in the Ms and As transition temperatures, in agreement with the experiment. It was found that competing martensite variants could develop stable domains as dislocation density reduced sufficiently which resulted in multi-domain structures. Furthermore, the critical nuclei size of the martensite variant was able to be extracted from our results. </p>

The structure and dynamics of the smectic-A liquid crystal 8CB (4 cyano-4 octylbiphenyl) when sheared and confined to mesoscale gaps (with crossed cylindrical geometry and mica confining surfaces) were studied using a Surface Forces Apparatus (SFA). Triangular shear patterns with frequencies of 0.01, 0.1, 1.0 and 10 Hz, and amplitudes of 62.5 nm, 625 nm and 6.25 m were applied to samples at gap sizes of 0.5 and 5.0 m. The study was performed at room temperature (20.5C) and at two higher temperatures (22C and 27C). In order to minimize the thermal fluctuations within the test chamber and hence to allow for the rapid re-initialization of test runs, the SFA was modified to allow for quick, precise and remote control of the confining surfaces. The procedure maximized the number of tests that could be undertaken with a single pair of surfaces so that a single gap geometry could be maintained for the duration of the test run. In order to run the SFA remotely, scripts written with a commercial software package, LabVIEW, were used to control of the SFA components, its FECO-monitoring camera and all its peripheral electronic equipment as well. Samples were agitated to disrupt any shear-induced liquid crystal domain alignment from previous testing following each shear test, and methodologies were developed to ascertain the extent of confinement quickly and remotely following agitation. Separate methods were developed for gap sizes at each extreme of the mesoscale regime, where the transition from bulklike structure and dynamics to nano-confinement occurs (between 1 and 10 microns for smectic-A 8CB). The results revealed that the greater amplitude-gap aspect ratio and surface-to-domain contact associated with smaller gaps facilitated reorientation of the domains in the shear direction. Evidence was also presented of domains at the higher end or outside of the mesoscale regime that, while straining and accreting, were unable to reorient and thereby led to an overall increase of viscoelastic response. The effective viscosity was found to obey a simple power law with respect to shear rate, , and the flow behaviour indices, n, slightly in excess of unity indicate shear thickening occurs with large enough shear amplitude, and that the viscosity reached a plateau near unity over shear rates of 0.005 to 500 s-1 within the mesoscale regime. Different K and n values were observed depending on the shear amplitude used. Unlike bulk smectic 8CB, whose domains do not align well in the shear direction with large shear-strain amplitude, at mesoscale levels of confinement large amplitude shearing (up to 12.5 shear strain amplitude) was found to be very effective at aligning domains. In general domain reorientation is found to be much more rapid within the mesoscale regime than has been reported in bulk. Aggressive shearing was found to result in a complete drop in viscoelastic response within seconds, while gentler shearing is found to produce a very gradual increase that persists for more than six hours, with individual shear periods exhibiting frequent and significant deviations from the expected smooth shear path that may be a product of discrete domain reorientations. From these findings, certain traits of the smectic 8CB domain structures under mesoscale confinement were deduced, including how they respond to shear depending on the level of confinement, and how their reorientation due to shear varies not only with shear rate but also independently with shear amplitude. An equation describing the viscosity change as a function of both shear rate and shear amplitude is proposed. The shear amplitude dependence introduces the notion of shearing beyond the proposed smectic 8CB “viscoelastic limit”, which was shown to exhibit behaviour in accordance with Large Amplitude Oscillatory Shear (LAOS) techniques developed for Fourier Transform rheology. The findings provided an understanding of the behavioural changes that occur as one reduces the level of confinement of smectic materials from bulk to nanoconfinement.

The structure and dynamics of the smectic-A liquid crystal 8CB (4 cyano-4 octylbiphenyl) when sheared and confined to mesoscale gaps (with crossed cylindrical geometry and mica confining surfaces) were studied using a Surface Forces Apparatus (SFA). Triangular shear patterns with frequencies of 0.01, 0.1, 1.0 and 10 Hz, and amplitudes of 62.5 nm, 625 nm and 6.25 m were applied to samples at gap sizes of 0.5 and 5.0 m. The study was performed at room temperature (20.5C) and at two higher temperatures (22C and 27C). In order to minimize the thermal fluctuations within the test chamber and hence to allow for the rapid re-initialization of test runs, the SFA was modified to allow for quick, precise and remote control of the confining surfaces. The procedure maximized the number of tests that could be undertaken with a single pair of surfaces so that a single gap geometry could be maintained for the duration of the test run. In order to run the SFA remotely, scripts written with a commercial software package, LabVIEW, were used to control of the SFA components, its FECO-monitoring camera and all its peripheral electronic equipment as well. Samples were agitated to disrupt any shear-induced liquid crystal domain alignment from previous testing following each shear test, and methodologies were developed to ascertain the extent of confinement quickly and remotely following agitation. Separate methods were developed for gap sizes at each extreme of the mesoscale regime, where the transition from bulklike structure and dynamics to nano-confinement occurs (between 1 and 10 microns for smectic-A 8CB). The results revealed that the greater amplitude-gap aspect ratio and surface-to-domain contact associated with smaller gaps facilitated reorientation of the domains in the shear direction. Evidence was also presented of domains at the higher end or outside of the mesoscale regime that, while straining and accreting, were unable to reorient and thereby led to an overall increase of viscoelastic response. The effective viscosity was found to obey a simple power law with respect to shear rate, , and the flow behaviour indices, n, slightly in excess of unity indicate shear thickening occurs with large enough shear amplitude, and that the viscosity reached a plateau near unity over shear rates of 0.005 to 500 s-1 within the mesoscale regime. Different K and n values were observed depending on the shear amplitude used. Unlike bulk smectic 8CB, whose domains do not align well in the shear direction with large shear-strain amplitude, at mesoscale levels of confinement large amplitude shearing (up to 12.5 shear strain amplitude) was found to be very effective at aligning domains. In general domain reorientation is found to be much more rapid within the mesoscale regime than has been reported in bulk. Aggressive shearing was found to result in a complete drop in viscoelastic response within seconds, while gentler shearing is found to produce a very gradual increase that persists for more than six hours, with individual shear periods exhibiting frequent and significant deviations from the expected smooth shear path that may be a product of discrete domain reorientations. From these findings, certain traits of the smectic 8CB domain structures under mesoscale confinement were deduced, including how they respond to shear depending on the level of confinement, and how their reorientation due to shear varies not only with shear rate but also independently with shear amplitude. An equation describing the viscosity change as a function of both shear rate and shear amplitude is proposed. The shear amplitude dependence introduces the notion of shearing beyond the proposed smectic 8CB “viscoelastic limit”, which was shown to exhibit behaviour in accordance with Large Amplitude Oscillatory Shear (LAOS) techniques developed for Fourier Transform rheology. The findings provided an understanding of the behavioural changes that occur as one reduces the level of confinement of smectic materials from bulk to nanoconfinement.