Modelling displacive and diffusive phase transition in steel

The heat treatment of steels is a process of fundamental importance for manipulating the properties of the steel. We present a consistent thermodynamic framework for modelling the heat treatment process which is able to capture both displacive and diffusive mechanisms. The present formulation is applicable to the a grain size level of observation. Some salient features of the thermodynamic framework are highlighted, especially those associated with surface energies, and a number of numerical experiments are presented.