Precipitation kinetics in metallic alloys: Experiments and modeling

Nanoscale precipitation is one of the most widely used microstructural tools to manipulate properties metallic alloys, and especially reach high strength. Optimal microstructures are reached through complex solid state phase transformations involving non-isothermal heat treatments, metastable phases, chemistry, non-equilibrium vacancies, interaction with structural defects. These controlled by an interplay between thermodynamics kinetics, resulting nucleation, growth coarsening, in a large variety trajectories that depend on both alloy chemistry processing. Progress experimental characterization modeling has tremendously improved knowledge description these processes. The purpose this overview describe current level understanding starting from relatively simple situation homogeneous dilute coherent phases including different levels additional complexity regarding diffusion mechanism, effect finite volume fraction, particle shape, competitive multi-phase precipitation, heterogeneous effects.