Kinetics of strain-induced morphological transformation in cubic alloys with a miscibility gap

Morphological evolutions controlled by a transformation-induced elastic strain during a solid state precipitation are systematically investigated using a prototype binary alloy as a model system. A computer simulation technique based on a microscopic kinetic model including the elastic strain effect is developed. Without any a priori assumptions concerning shapes, concentration profiles and mutual positions of new phase particles, various types of coherent two-phase morphologies such as basket-weave structures, sandwich-like multi-domain structures, precipitate macrolattices and GP zones are predicted. A wide variety of interesting strain-induced kinetic phenomena are observed during development of the above microstructures, including selective and anisotropic growth, reverse coarsening, particle translational motion, particle shape transition and splitting. In spite of all simplifications of the model, most of the simulation results are confirmed by experimental observations in various alloy systems, indicating that this kinetic model can be efficiently used for understanding, interpreting and predicting structural evolutions in real alloys.