Microscopic phase-field simulation of influence of interfacial mismatch stress on coarsening mechanism of aluminum alloy

Influence of interface mismatch stress on precipitate coarsening process in aluminum alloys was investigated using a microscopic phase-field model. The results show that, when the interface mismatch stress is zero, the coarsening mechanism complies with the classic LSW theory. When the mismatch stress is large, the coarsening mechanism is orientation-controlled. The precipitate particles are distributed periodically along the elastic soft directions. At medium interface mismatch stress, the coarsening mechanism is mixed with both orientation-control and LSW mechanism. The interface mismatch stress promotes precipitate growing in elastic soft directions. The coarsening process and growth process of the precipitates overlap with each other in proceeding.