Generalization of the binary structural phase field crystal model

Abstract

Binary phase field crystal (PFC) models have been successful in describing a broad selection of phenomena in binary alloy materials: eutectic and dendritic solidification, the Kirkendall effect, clustering, solid state precipitation, and many more. In this paper, authors present improvements to the binary structural PFC model and show that these improvements allow us to model new material phase diagrams. They apply their improved model to study the kinetics of precipitation from a liquid solution where they observe a two-step nucleation pathway. This agrees with recent experimental observations in which spinodal decomposition precedes nucleation in solute-rich domains. They also find a phenomenon not previously described in the literature in which precipitate growth is accelerated in the presence of uncrystallized, solute-rich liquid domains.