Abstract :
Self-consistent analytical approach describes temporary steady-state nucleation of precipitates in a supersaturated solid solution under continuous generation of a solvent component. This kinetic stage appears due to dynamic balance between generation of monomers in the system and their annihilation at the precipitate interfaces. It was observed in experiments and numerical simulations. Analytical arguments for this stage appearance are given in this paper.
Proposed model self-consistently takes into account the coupling between stochastic process of evaporation and absorption of monomers at precipitate surfaces, generation of monomers in the system, and their diffusion from the interior of the matrix to precipitates. Dependencies of the steady state nucleation rate and concentration of monomers on the system parameters are obtained. Fundamental difference is found between the forms of the steady-state nucleation rate for the reaction controlled case (rcc) vs. diffusion controlled (dcc) one. In dcc, in contrast to the rcc, the nucleation barrier depends on the parameters characterizing the diffusion of monomers in the vicinity of the precipitate interface and their interaction with the interface
