Solute segregation kinetics and dislocation depinning in a binary alloy

Static strain aging, a phenomenon caused by diffusion of solute atoms to dislocations, is an important contributor to the strength of substitutional alloys. Accurate modeling of this complex process requires both atomic spatial resolution and diffusional time scales, which is very challenging to achieve with commonly used atomistic computational methods. In this paper, we use the recently developed diffusive molecular dynamics (DMD) method that is capable of describing the kinetics of the solute segregation process at the atomic level while operating on diffusive time scales in a computationally efficient way. We study static strain aging in the Al-Mg system and calculate the depinning shear stress between edge and screw dislocations and their solute atmospheres formed for various waiting times with different solute content and for a range of temperatures. A simple phenomenological model is also proposed that describes the observed behavior of the critical shear stress as a function of segregation level.