TY - JOUR
T1 - Computer simulation of spinodal decomposition in ternary systems
AU - Chen, Long Qing
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements--This work is supported by the ARPA/NIST program on Mathematical Modeling of Microstructure Evolution in Advanced Alloys and by NSF under the grant number DMR-9311898. The computing time is provided by the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center under the grant number DMR-900022P. The author would like to thank Drs John Simmons, John Cahn and William Boettinger at NIST for useful suggestions and discussions. He is also grateful to Mr Yunzhi Wang at Rutgers Univer-
PY - 1994/10
Y1 - 1994/10
N2 - The non-linear spinodal decomposition kinetics of a quenched homogeneous ternary alloy within three- or two-phase fields is modeled using a computer simulation technique formulated in the reciprocal lattice. Based on two-dimensional computer simulations, it is shown that, similar to binary alloys, spinodal decomposition in a ternary system usually produces interconnected morphologies at the very early stages of decomposition. For most of the compositions investigated, a decomposition of a homogeneous phase into three phases takes place in two stages. For some compositions, the two stages are the phase separation of an homogeneous phase into two phases, followed by further phase separation of one of the two phases into another two phases, resulting in a three-phase mixture. For other compositions, the first stage is a phase separation of an initially homogeneous phase into a two-phase mixture followed by a second stage, the appearance of a third phase along the existing interphase boundaries. This sequential phase separation in a ternary alloy can be justified from a thermodynamic stability analysis combined with the knowledge of the thermodynamic driving force for phase separation. It is also demonstrated that a third minor component strongly segregates to interphase boundaries during spinodal decomposition and subsequent coarsening of a homogeneous ternary alloy into two phases.
AB - The non-linear spinodal decomposition kinetics of a quenched homogeneous ternary alloy within three- or two-phase fields is modeled using a computer simulation technique formulated in the reciprocal lattice. Based on two-dimensional computer simulations, it is shown that, similar to binary alloys, spinodal decomposition in a ternary system usually produces interconnected morphologies at the very early stages of decomposition. For most of the compositions investigated, a decomposition of a homogeneous phase into three phases takes place in two stages. For some compositions, the two stages are the phase separation of an homogeneous phase into two phases, followed by further phase separation of one of the two phases into another two phases, resulting in a three-phase mixture. For other compositions, the first stage is a phase separation of an initially homogeneous phase into a two-phase mixture followed by a second stage, the appearance of a third phase along the existing interphase boundaries. This sequential phase separation in a ternary alloy can be justified from a thermodynamic stability analysis combined with the knowledge of the thermodynamic driving force for phase separation. It is also demonstrated that a third minor component strongly segregates to interphase boundaries during spinodal decomposition and subsequent coarsening of a homogeneous ternary alloy into two phases.
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U2 - 10.1016/0956-7151(94)90482-0
DO - 10.1016/0956-7151(94)90482-0
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0028516716
VL - 42
SP - 3503
EP - 3513
JO - Acta Materialia
JF - Acta Materialia
SN - 1359-6454
IS - 10
ER -