Formation of oxide nanoclusters in nanostructured ferritic alloys during anisothermal heat treatment: A kinetic Monte Carlo study

Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations, based on rigid lattice approximation, have been performed to study the homogeneous precipitation in Fe-Y-O and Fe-Ti-O alloys during anisothermal heat treatments. Simulations predict different kinetic behaviors, including transient precipitation of metastable iron oxides followed by precipitation of Y2O3 or Ti2O3 nanoclusters. Then, precipitation kinetics in ternary alloys are compared. Significant differences in the precipitation behaviour of Y2O3 and Ti2O3 were observed as result of dramatically different diffusion rates of Y and Ti atoms.