Deriving surface-energy anisotropy for phenomenological phase-field models of solidification

Abstract

The free energy of classical density functional theory of an inhomogeneous fluid at coexistence with its solid is used to describe solidification in two-dimensional hexagonal crystals. A coarse-graining formalism from the microscopic density functional level to the macroscopic single order parameter level is provided. An analytic expression for the surface energy and the angular dependence of its anisotropy is derived and its coefficients related to the two-point direct correlation function of the liquid phase at coexistence.