Modeling of soft impingement effect during solid-state partitioning phase transformations in binary alloys

The soft impingement effect at the later stage of partitioning phase transformations has been modeled both for the diffusion-controlled growth model and for the mixed-mode model. Instead of the linear and exponential approximations for the concentration gradient in front of the interface used in the past, a general polynomial method of dealing with the diffusion field is proposed. The linear and exponential diffusion field approximations are two specific cases of the polynomial diffusion field approximation. The effect of soft impingement on the overall partitioning phase transformation is only related to the degree of the super-saturation in case of the diffusion-controlled growth model, while it is determined by both the growth mode and the degree of super-saturation in case of the mixed-mode model.