Cahn-Hilliard Equations and Phase Transition Dynamics for Binary Systems

The process of phase separation of binary systems is described by the Cahn-Hilliard equation. The main objective of this article is to give a classification on the dynamic phase transitions for binary systems using either the classical Cahn-Hilliard equation or the Cahn-Hilliard equation coupled with entropy, leading to some interesting physical predictions. The analysis is based on dynamic transition theory for nonlinear systems and new classification scheme for dynamic transitions, developed recently by the authors.