Computer Simulation of the Time Evolution of a Quenched Model Alloy in the Nucleation Region

Abstract

The time evolution of the structure function and of the cluster (or grain) distribution following quenching in a model binary alloy with a small concentration of minority atoms is obtained from computer simulations. The structure function $\overline{S}\mathrm{}(k,t)\mathrm{}$ obeys a simple scaling relation, $\overline{S}\mathrm{}(k,t)=K^{-3\mathrm{}}F\left(\frac{k}{K}\right)$ with $K\left(t\right)\mathrm{}\propto t^{-a}$, $a\cong 0.25$, during the latter and larger part of the evolution. During the same period, the mean cluster size grows approximately linearly with time.