Nucleation of Ni–Fe alloy near the spinodal

In molecular dynamics simulations, “non-classical” nucleation around the spinodal in Fe–Ni alloys is observed by controlling the composition. With increasing Fe concentration, metastable body-centered cubic (bcc) clusters are formed during pre-crystallization under the influence of the spinodal, and then grow into face-centered cubic (fcc)-ordered critical nuclei. When the composition reaches 75 at.% Fe, this transformation is suppressed and the bcc, rather than fcc, symmetry dominates the structure of critical nuclei, a typical nucleation behavior near the spinodal. Further increase in the Fe concentration depresses nucleation below the spinodal temperature. As a consequence, two transient bcc phases characterized by high and low densities appear upon reaching the critical size.