A simulation study of the effect of varying nitrogen potential on behavior of precipitation in nitridation of alloys

An atomic model for precipitation of compound in alloys, which couples a cellular automaton model for growth/dissociation of precipitates and a randomwalk model for diffusion, has been developed and programmed for two-dimensional computer simulation. A boundary condition that accounts for both atmospheric nitrogen potential and interface transfer rate of nitrogen at the surface has been set up. A series of simulations were carried out for a qualitative study of the effect of varying nitrogen potential during nitridation of alloy steels on kinetics and morphology of nitride precipitation behavior.