PanPhaseField
PanPhaseField is a module of Pandat™ software designed to simulate microstructure evolution. It is also a framework allowing user to implement their own phase-field models.PanPhaseField provides two built-in applications of precipitation and spinodal decomposition.
PanPhaseField is seamlessly integrated with the user-friendly Pandat™ Graphical User Interface (PanGUI) as well as the thermodynamic calculation engine,PanEngine, through an innovative data management system, PanDataNet. PanEngine provides PanPhaseField with reliable thermodynamic data, such as chemical potential, phase equilibrium and mobility of multi-component system. PanDataNet provides data management support which makes phase field simulation of multi-component commercial alloys feasible. Figure 1 shows an overall architecture of the PanPhaseField module. With the PanPhaseField SDK, researchers can develop their own phase-field application plugins. Plugins can directly get the needed thermodynamic input from CALPHAD database and use Pandat™ GUI to visualize their simulation results.
Pandat™ can visualize simulation results in 1-D, 2-D and 3-D. Snapshots of a visualization of 3D spinodal decomposition in Nb-Mo-Ta-Ti-V-Zr is displayed in Figure 2
Figure 2: Snapshots of visualization through PanPhaseField. 3D Composition fields of Zr, Nb, Ta, Ti, V and Mo from a spinodal decomposition are displayed
Besides using PanGUI to visualize the simulation result, user can also use third-party visualization software compatible with VTK-format, such as ParaView. This is because PanPhaseField saves simulations result in standard .vtk files. Please refer to Section Step 8: Get VTK files regarding VTK files from PanPhaseField simulations.