The velocity of plate precipitates growing by the ledge mechanism

Experiments have shown that plate-shaped precipitates in alloys most often grow by a ledge mechanism where mobile steps at the particle–matrix interface propagate at constant velocity in the growth direction and the steps are separated by immobile terraces. In this work the concentration field in the matrix phase during growth is formulated by a boundary integral technique, which correctly accounts for the step-terrace structure. By examining …