Phase field simulation of precipitates morphology with dislocations under applied stress

► Relative magnitude of applied stress and dislocation stress dominates the morphology. ► Precipitates still nucleate at the dislocation under the large applied elastic stress. ► Dislocation wall dominates local morphology even if under the larger applied stress. ► Applied strain makes the precipitation faster as the alloy concentration decreases. ► Suitable applied stress and dislocations may control the alloy microstructure. A phase field dynamic model was developed and used to investigate the effects of dislocations and applied strain on the precipitation behavior and microstructure evolution of model binary alloys. The simulations show that the local microstructure depends not only on the relative magnitude of the dislocation stress and the stress induced by the applied strain, but also on the composition and magnitude of the stress. Its also shown that the applied strain makes the phase decomposition quickly. The results suggest that the microstructure of an alloy and its evolution may be controlled by finding suitable combination between dislocation, applied strain and composition, and the theoretical calculations are helpful in predicting what those combinations should be.