Simulation of precipitate splitting in an alloy (II): Elastic energy collapse

The phenomenon of elastic energy collapse (EEC) accompanying the variation of the structure and temperature during the growth of a nucleus is discovered while we study the precipitate splitting in an alloy. There are two ways to introduce the EEC, one is the instantaneous elastic energy collapse (IEEC) and the other is the gradual elastic energy collapse (GEEC). Simulation shows that whether the precipitate is splitted is related to the time when EEC emerges, and that the kind of splitting of the precipitate depends on the rate of EEC. For IEEC, if it is introduced when the diameter of a nucleus reaches about 80l-90l (l = 12.18 nm) the precipitate is splitted to 4 blocks. For GEEC, if it is intoduced when the time is larger than τ = 7.5 × 10³ s, the precipitate is splitted to 2 blocks.