Variational Problems in Materials Science

The study of variational problems in materials science has a long history, and it has contributed a lot in shaping our understanding on how materials work and perform. There is, however, a recent renewed interest in this subject as a consequence of the fruitful interaction between mathematical analysis and the modelling of new, technologically advanced materials.This volume collects articles about the study of BV vector fields, path functionals over Wasserstein spaces, variational approaches to quasi-static evolution, free-discontinuity problems with applications to fracture and plasticity, systems with hysteresis or with interfacial energies, evolution of interfaces, multi-scale analysis in ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity, variational techniques for the study of crystal plasticity, of dislocations, and of concentrations in Ginzburg-Landau functionals, concentrated contact interactions, and phase transitions in biaxial liquid crystals.