Abstract
The pre-nucleation structure of titanium oxide in Fe-Ti super-cooled melt was investigated using rapid-solidification-technology to clarify its nucleation process involved with ‘TiO’ clusters. Atom Probe Tomography (APT) results verified the presence of ‘TiO’ clusters in Fe-Ti alloys, which were believed to be an intermediate state for the formation of titanium oxide nuclei. Moreover, the oxygen atoms accumulated at the same location as ‘TiO’ clusters. First-principles calculation also showed the existence of ‘TiO’ clusters with the atomic ratio of Ti/O = 1, and a cluster-assisted nucleation mechanism based on two-step nucleation theory of titanium oxide about the detailed process from solute to nucleus has been proposed.
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