Modeling of heterogeneous site energy distributions in precipitate nucleation

The simulation of heat changes resulting from phase transitions can help to interpret differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements, e.g. of metallic alloy systems in which multiple reactions overlap during non-isothermal heat treatments. So far, simulated DSC curves mostly exhibit sharp reaction peaks as commonly just one mean energy value for a certain type of nucleation site is assumed. This work proposes an efficient model for treating heterogeneous nucleation site energy variations within the framework of classical nucleation theory (CNT). The site energies are assumed to vary according to a Rayleigh distribution and a scaling function. The effect on the nucleation behavior of precipitates is studied. A consideration of the distribution of heterogeneous site energies has the potential to significantly smoothen the numerical treatment of precipitation processes compared to the non-distributed case. The comparison to previously published simulations of DSC curves during the cooling of an AA6005 aluminum alloy demonstrates the advantages of this extension, especially for slow cooling rates.