Influence of uniaxial stress on the lamellar spacing of eutectics

Directional solidification of lamellar eutectic structures submitted to uniaxial stress is investigated. In the spirit of an approximation first used by Jackson and Hunt, we calculate the stress tensor for a two-dimensional crystal with triangular surface, using a Fourier expansion of the Airy function. crystal with triangular surface in contact with its melt, given that a uniaxial external stress is applied. The effect of the resulting change in chemical potential is introduced into the standard model for directional solidification of a lamellar eutectic. This calculation is motivated by an observation, made recently [I. Cantat, K. Kassner, C. Misbah, and H. M\"uller-Krumbhaar, Phys. Rev. E, in press] that the thermal gradient produces similar effects as a strong gravitational field in the case of dilute-alloy solidification. Therefore, the coupling between the Grinfeld and the Mullins-Sekerka instabilities becomes strong, as the critical wavelength of the former instability gets reduced to a value close to that of the latter. Analogously, in the case of eutectics, the characteristic length scale of the Grinfeld instability should be reduced to a size not extremely far from typical lamellar spacings. In a Jackson-Hunt like approach we average the undercooling, including the stress term, over a pair of lamellae. Following Jackson and Hunt, we assume the selected wavelength to be determined by the minimum undercooling criterion and compute its shift due to the external stress. we realize the shifting of the wavelength by the application of external stress. In addition, we find that in general the volume fraction of the two solid phases is changed by uniaxial stress. Implications for experiments on eutectics are discussed.Comment: 8 pages RevTex, 6 included ps-figures, accepted for Phys. Rev.