Computer Simulation of the Time Evolution of a Quenched Model Alloy in the Nucleation Region

The time evolution of the structure function and of the cluster (or grain) distribution following quenching in a model binary alloy with a small concentration of minority atoms is obtained from computer simulations. The structure function S̄(k,t) obeys a simple scaling relation, S̄(k,t)=K^-3F(k/K) with K(t)∝t^-a, a0.25, during the latter and larger part of the evolution. During the same period, the mean cluster size grows approximately linearly with time.