The following changes have appeared in MatCalc version 5.43.nnnn:

• implemented LIST_INTERNAL_VARIABLES command to display all internal variables and constants.
• started functionality for storing two-dimensional arrays. Use CREATE_GLOBAL_ARRAY and SET_ARRAY_VALUE to fill the array. This feature is not yet completed, will be finished in the next release.
• added kB for Boltzmann constant.
• fixes a few more bugs.

• fixes a few more bugs.
• implemented functionality to create composition set phases. These phases are selected from a parent phase and can have different constituents then. This functionality replaces the 'simple' functions that have been implemented into our databases recently. With the new functionality, it is much more convenient and flexible to create these simple phases. You can use this functionality in the GUI version, phase status dialog and 'Create…', then selection of 'composition set', or via the command 'CREATE_NEW_PHASE' and selection of 'c' for composition set.
• The 'simple' phases, i.e. the reduced composition sets that are implemented in the mc_fe database, will be removed in the future database versions, because this functionality is entirely replaced by the 'composition set' feature described in the item above.
• a few more functions that will be announced later.

version 5.43.0005: beta version 2011-03-14 (Windows+Linux)

• fixes several bugs in the precipitation kinetics module (heat treatments).

version 5.43.0001: beta version 2011-02-17 (Windows+Linux)

• MatCalc databases now contain comments describing the individual phases in more detail, and a 'relevance' parameter, which is used to sort the phases in the database dialog according to this parameter. This makes it much easier to find and select the relevant phases from the phases list. This functionality works only with the latest database versions. Please ask MatCalc support if you want to use them.
• The treatment of excess vacancies has been extended. Excess vacancies can be generated/annihilated at dislocation jogs, grain boundaries and Frank loops. In addition, a simple model is now implemented to account for deformation-induced vacancies. At present, the routines are in the test stage. A corresponding article describing the new models has occurred in Acta Materialia (2011).
• First (limited) functionality for implementing deformation into MatCalc simulations. This is presently for test purpose only and will be released in one of the forthcoming versions. It is possible to define a global strain rate for the simulation either as a global strain rate or selectively for heat treatment segments. The latter is a perfect way of simulating the influence of deformation on the precipitation kinetics.
• Fixed a bug in the Linux version, where the simulation got stuck in heat treatment segments under certain conditions.