Phase-field modeling of microstructure evolutions in magnetic materials

Recently, the phase-field method has been extended and utilized across many fields of materials science. Since this method can incorporate, systematically, the effect of the coherency induced by lattice mismatch and the applied stress as well as the external electrical and magnetic fields, it has been applied to many material processes including solidification, solid-state phase transformations and various types of complex microstructure changes. In this paper, we focus on the recent phase-field simulations of real magnetic materials, and the simulation method for magnetic materials is explained comprehensively. Several applications of the phase-field method to clarifying the microstructure changes in magnetic materials, such as Ni₂MnGa ferromagnetic shape memory alloy, FePt nanogranular thin film, Co-Sm-Cu rare-earth magnet, Fe-Cr-Co spinodal magnet, and Fe-C steel with external magnetic field, are demonstrated. Furthermore, the general concept of the effective strategy for controlling microstructure in magnetic materials is proposed.