| Abstract Scope |
The presentation will discuss the thermodynamics of ferroic crystals. It will start by introducing a modern version for the first law of thermodynamics and apply it to obtain the fundamental equation of thermodynamics for homogeneous ferroic crystals. On the other hand, irreversible thermodynamics considers ferroic phase transitions as internal processes which dissipate chemical energy, allowing one to establish energy density functions of basic thermodynamic variables and ferroic order parameters. The thermodynamic description of a homogeneous system can be extended to inhomogeneous systems by introducing the contributions of domain wall energies through gradient energies as well as long-range elastic, electrostatic, and magnetic energies. The energy functions or functionals can then be employed to construct multidomain diagrams in the space of thermal, mechanical, electric, and magnetic variables using thermodynamic analysis or model the static and dynamic responses of a domain structure to external stimuli using computational methods such as the phase-field method. |