Progress on Generic Phase-Field Method Development

Abstract

In this report, we summarize our current collaborative efforts, involving three national laboratories: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), to develop a computational framework for homogenous and heterogenous nucleation mechanisms into the generic phase-field model. During the studies, the Fe-Cr system was chosen as a model system due to its simplicity and availability of reliable thermodynamic and kinetic data, as well as the range of applications of low-chromium ferritic steels in nuclear reactors. For homogenous nucleation, the relevant parameters determined from atomistic studies were used directly to determine the energy functional and parameters in the phase-field model. Interfacial energy, critical nucleus size, nucleation rate, and coarsening kinetics were systematically examined in two- and three- dimensional models. For the heterogeneous nucleation mechanism, we studied the nucleation and growth behavior of chromium precipitates due to the presence of dislocations. The results demonstrate that both nucleation schemes can be introduced to a phase-field modeling algorithm with the desired accuracy and computational efficiency.