Coarsening in multiphase multicomponent systems—I. The mean field limit

Ostwald ripening in multicomponent systems where an arbitrary number of precipitate phases are coarsening is examined. Within the mean field approximation it is found that the coarsening rate constant for each phase is identical to the previously derived result for a single phase growing in a multicomponent system. Also, the late time particle size distribution for each phase, when normalized by its average radius, is equivalent to the distribution predicted by Lifschitz and Slyozov. Finally, the decay rate of each of the supersaturation terms is derived.