W. Beck Andrews¹, Kate L. M. Elder², Katsuyo Thornton¹, Peter W. Voorhees²; ¹University of Michigan, ²Northwestern University

Bicontinuous two-phase mixtures are found in systems ranging from block copolymers to phase separated alloys and nanoporous metals. We employ the prototypical bicontinuous structure found following spinodal decomposition to probe the morphology and evolution of bicontinuous two-phase mixtures that are coarsening by either interfacial or bulk diffusion using two-point statistics, the interfacial topology, and interfacial shape distribution. Two different phase field models for interface diffusion are employed, and the differences in results between these two approaches will be discussed. Even though interfacial and bulk diffusion dynamics are completely different, we find that the interfacial morphologies are very similar for systems with 32% and 36% volume fractions. Structures with 30% volume fraction break into independent particles, while those with 32% volume fraction do not, emphasizing the impact a small change in volume fraction can have on the evolution process.