Competitive B2 and B33 Nucleation during Solidification of Ni 50 Zr 50 Alloy: Molecular Dynamics Simulation and Classical Nucleation Theory
We studied the homogenous nucleation of the stoichiometric B2 and B33 phases in the Ni 50 Zr 50 alloy using the persistent embryo method and the classical nucleation theory. The two phases become very close competitors at large supercoolings, which is consistent with the experimental observations. In the case of the B2 phase, the linear temperature dependence of the solid–liquid interface (SLI) free energy extrapolated to the melting temperature leads to the same value as the one obtained from the capillarity fluctuation method (CFM). In the case of the B33 phases, the SLI free energy is also a linear function of temperature at large supercoolings, but the extrapolation to the melting temperature leads to a value which is considerably different from the CFM value. This is persistent with the large anisotropy of the SLI properties of the B33 phase nearby the melting temperature observed in the simulation of the nominally flat interface migration.