A first-principles and CALPHAD-assisted phase-field model for microstructure evolution: Application to Mo-V binary alloy systems

A multiscale computational framework combining the first-principles calculations and the CALPHAD approach with the phase-field method is presented to simulate the microstructure evolution in multicomponent steel alloys. We demonstrate the potential of the framework by predicting the microstructural evolution in elastically periodic arrays of the Mo-V binary sub-system. The framework utilizes the first-principles calculations using special quasi-random structures. Hitherto unavailable thermodynamic and material properties of the alloy are obtained by employing the first-principles calculations and the CALPHAD approach and fed into the phase-field model to predict the microstructure evolution at different temperatures within the miscibility gap region. In addition to the temperature and cooling rates, the model incorporates the role of mechanical fields in decomposition kinetics in the Mo-V binary alloy system. Regimes for temperatures and cooling rates at which spinodal decomposition occurs are identified. Applying external loading leads to directional phase separation in the Mo-V binary system. The elastic inhomogeneity in terms of material properties between the two phases initiates the directional alignment while eigenstrains and applied external loading control the degree of alignment. The framework developed is general and extendable to higher multicomponent sub-systems in steel alloys.