Incorporating diffuse-interface nuclei in phase-field simulations

We propose a computational framework for incorporating diffuse-interface critical nuclei in phase-field simulations. Using a structural transformation as an example, we first generate a table of diffuse-interface critical nuclei. We then incorporate them in phase-field simulations through the explicit nucleation algorithm. The temporal growth kinetics of the introduced nuclei is obtained by numerically solving the Allen-Cahn equation. The results are analyzed by comparing to the phase transformation kinetics using the classical nucleation and normal growth theory and the Kolmogorov-Johnson-Mehl-Avrami equation. (C) 2010 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.