Microstructural Evolution of a Transformation in Which There Is an Exclusion Zone Around Each Nucleus

Depending on the physical circumstances, two nuclei might not form very close to one another. That is, there might be an exclusion zone around each nucleus. Formal treatments of nucleation and growth transformations normally suppose that nuclei are located uniform randomly, i.e. according to a Poisson point process, within the matrix. In this work, we model nuclei location in space using the so-called Sequential point process. The Sequential point process can produce a range of nuclei arrangements in space in which each nucleus possesses an exclusion radius. Computer simulations of transformations with these nuclei arrangements are compared with a transformation nucleated according to the usual Poisson point process. The resulting microstructural evolution is characterized by usual stereological parameters as well as by the two-point correlation function. The results show that the effect of the exclusion zone relative to the usual uniform randomly nucleation can be significant.