CONTINUUM THEORY OF THERMALLY-INDUCED PHASE-TRANSITIONS BASED ON AN ORDER-PARAMETER

Using balance laws for accretive force and energy in conjunction with constitutive equations restricted so as to be compatible with the seco nd law, we develop a theory for the study of solid-liquid and solid-so lid phase transitions where accretion and heat conduction dominate mas s diffusion and deformation. Our theory furnishes generalizations of t he Ginzburg-Landau equation and the phase-field equations, generalizat ions that allow for anisotropically induced preferred growth and nonli near transition kinetics.