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 $\overline{S}(k,t)$ obeys a simple scaling relation, $\overline{S}(k,t)={K}^{\ensuremath{-}3}F(\frac{k}{K})$ with $K(t)\ensuremath{\propto}{t}^{\ensuremath{-}a}$, $a\ensuremath{\cong}0.25$, during the latter and larger part of the evolution. During the same period, the mean cluster size grows approximately linearly with time.