A generalized Gibbs-distribution approach to the configurational kinetics of non-equilibrium alloys was extended to the case of many-component alloys, and a realistic vacancy-mediated atomic-exchange mechanism was incorporated. Exact and approximate equations were presented for the temporal evolution of atomic distributions, as well as for the free energy of a non-equilibrium alloy. It was shown that the evolution of the main alloy component distribution for the next-nearest neighbor vacancy exchange model could usually be described in terms of an equivalent direct exchange model. This conclusion was supported by computer simulations of decomposition and ordering, via a vacancy exchange mechanism, in a 2-dimensional alloy model. The simulations revealed the occurrence of localized ordering in the initial stages of ordering, but there was none of the interfacial vacancy trapping which had been suggested to occur.

The Master Equation Approach to Configurational Kinetics of Alloys via the Vacancy Exchange Mechanism: General Relations and Features of Microstructural Evolution K.D.Belashchenko, V.G.Vaks: Journal of Physics - Condensed Matter, 1998, 10[9], 1965-83