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PhaseFieldX
What PhaseFieldX is
PhaseFieldX is a free, open-source desktop project for simulating and analyzing material behavior with phase-field models. It runs on Linux and macOS and can be self-hosted under the MIT License. The software integrates with FEniCSx to solve partial differential equations and provides an interface for defining material properties, boundary conditions, and simulation parameters. Documented models cover phase-field fracture and fatigue, elasticity, Allen-Cahn, and Cahn-Hilliard. Fracture and fatigue simulations address crack initiation, propagation, branching, coalescence, and fatigue-driven evolution without explicit crack tracking. Visualization tools show crack propagation, stress distributions, and other quantities, and data export is supported. Documentation includes examples for fracture, fatigue, elasticity, phase-field models, Allen-Cahn, and a parallel MPI simulation. Topology optimization and solidification are listed as upcoming applications. Installation uses pip after FEniCSx and dependencies are prepared in a conda environment, or users can use the supplied Docker image. Extra image-processing features require imageio and scikit-image.
Who it suits
PhaseFieldX is intended for materials-science researchers and engineers, as well as developers, contributors, and interested users. It fits users comfortable setting up FEniCSx, conda, pip, or Docker.
What it does well
- Free and open source under MIT License
- Integrates with FEniCSx
- Includes fracture and fatigue models
- Provides visualization and data export
- Offers examples including parallel MPI
What to know first
- Solidification and topology optimization are upcoming
- Installation requires FEniCSx dependencies
- Some image processing needs extra packages
- MIT license provides no warranty
Verdict
PhaseFieldX provides a documented, open-source workflow for phase-field material simulations and visualization. Its setup depends on FEniCSx, while some listed applications remain upcoming.
Facts from PhaseFieldX's own pages
- Applications
- The documentation describes applications including phase-field fracture, solidification, and other material phenomena. · phasefieldx.readthedocs.io, 10 Oct 2026
- Assessment tools
- No · github.com, 23 Sept 2026
- Author
- The documentation lists Miguel Castillón as an author and cites a 2025 PhaseFieldX paper. · phasefieldx.readthedocs.io, 9 Oct 2026
- Authoring tools
- Yes · github.com, 23 Sept 2026
- Community and support
- The project welcomes community contributions and feedback, and its documentation links to contributing guidelines. · phasefieldx.readthedocs.io, 9 Oct 2026
- Container
- The project provides a pre-built Docker image with FEniCSx and PhaseFieldX installed. · phasefieldx.readthedocs.io, 9 Oct 2026
- Data export
- Yes · github.com, 23 Sept 2026
- Delivery mode
- desktop · github.com, 23 Sept 2026
- Docker
- The installation guide provides a pre-built Docker image with FEniCSx and PhaseFieldX installed. · phasefieldx.readthedocs.io, 10 Oct 2026
- Examples
- The documentation provides example simulations for fracture, fatigue, elasticity, phase-field models, and Allen-Cahn, including a parallel simulation with MPI. · phasefieldx.readthedocs.io, 9 Oct 2026
- Features
- The documentation describes an interface for defining material properties, boundary conditions, and simulation parameters, plus visualization of crack propagation and stress distributions. · phasefieldx.readthedocs.io, 9 Oct 2026
- FEniCSx
- PhaseFieldX uses FEniCSx to solve partial differential equations and support computation and adaptive mesh refinement. · phasefieldx.readthedocs.io, 10 Oct 2026
- Free plan
- Yes · github.com, 23 Sept 2026
- Installation
- The installation guide instructs users to install FEniCSx, mpi4py, NumPy, pandas, PyVista, and gmsh, then install PhaseFieldX with pip. · phasefieldx.readthedocs.io, 10 Oct 2026
- Intended users
- The project describes its intended audience as researchers and engineers in materials science and engineering. · phasefieldx.readthedocs.io, 10 Oct 2026
- Interface
- The project describes an interface for defining material properties, boundary conditions, and simulation parameters. · phasefieldx.readthedocs.io, 10 Oct 2026
- Lesson library
- Yes · github.com, 23 Sept 2026
- License
- The project documentation states that PhaseFieldX is licensed under the MIT License. · phasefieldx.readthedocs.io, 10 Oct 2026
- Model coverage
- Documented models include phase-field fracture and fatigue, elasticity, Allen-Cahn, and Cahn-Hilliard; topology optimization and solidification are marked upcoming. · phasefieldx.readthedocs.io, 9 Oct 2026
- Modeling
- The theory documentation says fracture and fatigue models cover crack initiation, propagation, branching, coalescence, and fatigue-driven evolution without explicit crack tracking. · phasefieldx.readthedocs.io, 10 Oct 2026
- Open source
- The project is open source and lists the MIT License. · phasefieldx.readthedocs.io, 9 Oct 2026
- Optional dependencies
- Image post-processing such as crack measurement requires the additional imageio and scikit-image packages. · phasefieldx.readthedocs.io, 10 Oct 2026
- Other models
- The theory documentation covers elasticity, Allen-Cahn, and Cahn-Hilliard, and lists topology optimization and solidification as upcoming applications. · phasefieldx.readthedocs.io, 10 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- PhaseFieldX simulates and analyzes material behavior using phase-field models for interfaces, phase boundaries, and discontinuities such as cracks. · phasefieldx.readthedocs.io, 10 Oct 2026
Where PhaseFieldX stands on Freedom251
- Physics Simulation Software#47 of 89