Modelling the carbon snoek peak in ferrite: coupling molecular dynamics and kinetic monte-carlo simulations

Molecular statics, molecular dynamics and kinetic Monte-Carlo are used to model the carbon Snoek peak in ferrite. Using an interatomic EAM potential for the Fe–C system, saddle point energies for the diffusion of carbon have been evaluated under uniaxial stress by molecular statics. These energies have been reintroduced in a kinetic Monte-Carlo scheme to predict the repartition of carbon atoms in different octahedral sites. This repartition leads to an anelastic deformation calculated by molecular dynamics, which causes internal friction (the Snoek peak) for cyclic stress. This approach leads to quantitative predictions of the internal friction, which are in good agreement with experiments.