The following new major features are implemented in MatCalc versions 5.50.10nn:

• Phenomenological treatment of microstructure evolution during deformation. After definition of the deformation rate $\dot\epsilon $ either as a global variable or from within a heat treatment, the evolution of deformation-induced vacancies, dislocation density and subgrain size are followed automatically. These microstructural features are fully coupled with the precipitation kinetics module and interactions between deformation and precipitation can be analyzed. Moreover, it is possible to evaluate simple stress-strain curves with dislocation and grain size hardening.
• Implementation of automatic treatment of nucleus composition evaluated from the minimum critical nucleation energy criterion. With these features, it is possible to automatically let MatCalc decide which will be the most favorable nucleus composition for starting the precipitation kinetics simulation.
• Analytical tools for evaluation of precipitation strengthening including basic Orowan stress as well as dislocation shearing mechanisms such as chemical , coherency stress , modulus and anti-phase boundary hardening. All precipitation strengthening mechanisms can be combined and used for evaluation of the total Yield stress of the material.

Below are details describing the various changes and new features of the MatCalc versions 5.50.xxxx.

• Fixed bug in treatment of dislocation density evolution.
• Fixed bug in vacancy evolution model using 'mean diffusion distance' functionality (this is not a recommended model!).
• Fixed crash in MOVE_GUI_WINDOW command
• Variable, function, table and array names can now exceed a length of 20 characters without causing an error in parsing (previously this was limited by 20)
• Added command line functionality for grain growth and subgrain growth evolution models.
• Fixed bug in database dialog related to names in diffusion and physical data drop box.
• Fixed some typos.
• Fixed several smaller bugs in all modules.

• Implemented the new precipitation strengthening model of M. Ahmadi (unpublished research, 2011-2012).
• Fixed problems with size distributions of grain boundary precipitates. You may get different results when performing simulations of grain boundary precipitates in older MatCalc versions.
• Mechanical properties of the precipitate can be synchronized with matrix. This is important for evaluation of precipitation strengthening (modulus effect).
• The compositional constraints (para-equilibrium simulations) can now be synchronized with the chemical composition of the reference phase, in addition to nominal composition. According push buttons have been added to the 'phase status' dialog.
• Fixed several smaller bugs in all modules.

• Mechanical properties of the precipitate can be synchronized with matrix. This is important for evaluation of precipitation strengthening (modulus effect).
• Kinetic output now also contains information about the chemical composition of the precipitates.
• Tables and Arrays can now be exported and imported via console commands EXPORT_GLOBAL_TABLE, IMPORT_GLOBAL_TABLE, EXPORT_GLOBAL_ARRAY and IMPORT_GLOBAL_ARRAY
• Precipitate distribution can now be exported and imported via console commands EXPORT_PRECIPITATE_DIST and IMPORT_PRECIPITATE_DIST
• new port for Mathematica (see the technical paper)
• new command line structure for precipitation strengthening:
• In group s(t)ructure for precipitates the C constants and coupling constants has been removed. In exchange new options for APB strengthening (d)islocation repulsion, (c)oherency strengthening average force and (u)se linear misfit instead of volumetric has been added.
• In group strengt(h) for precipitation domains the option strength s(u)perposition has been removed. In exchange the options disl. (l)ine tension, (n)on-shearing coefficient and (c)oupling of strength contributions has been added.

• Export of plots in svg format has been improved. Export into files is now working more smoothly. Export of svg data into the clipboard works also, for instance, with the free vector graphics software InkScape (we recommend this software for all users that rely on free programs).
• Script files run and workspace file opened from system level (double click in GUI manager or started with argument on command line level) will now also be stored in the recent files/scripts/workspaces list.
• A new command ALLOW_WINDOW_UPDATE has been introduced to switch on/off automatic updates during calculations.
• Fixed a problem with modifiers, when 'drag and drop'-ing variables without wildcards into windows.
• Phase fraction variables F$phase_name now accept flag for weight scale. Use either F$phase_name$w or F$phase_name$wp.
• Implemented modulo operator. Use backslash to calculate the modulo e.g. SHOW_EXPRESSION 13\3 returns 1
• New command SET_PROGRESS_INDICATOR to set the progress in the lower right corner. This is particularly useful for scripts with loops.
• New commands TEST_EXIST_XXX to check availability of files or databases. The result of the tests can be accessed with the internal variable test_result
• rand variable now generates better random variables (more precise)
• Ordered/Disordered phases can now have separated sets of parameters in databases.
• Colours for plotting can now be set with (n)umbers
• Molar entropy of vacancy formation SM_VA has been added
• Array entries can now be accessed via indices: e.g. my_array[4][2] to access the value in row 4 and column 2
• Various bugfixes

• With the 'calc' button next to the 'nucleus composition' drop list in the 'phase status' dialog for precipitate nucleation, MatCalc now evaluates the optimum nucleus composition of precipitates also according to the minimum nucleation barrier criterion (G*=min.). Alternatively, use the CALC_NUCLEUS_COMPOSITIONS command of SHFT+CTRL+K.
• Different precipitation domains can now have the same thermodynamic matrix phase. No need to create one separate equilibrium phase for each precipitation domain. Warning: All precipitation domains, which are linked to the same thermodynamic matrix phase, will have the same properties! Use this new feature with care. Typical application will be if you want to control nucleation of different populations of the same phase using the 'restrict nucleation to precipitation domain' feature.
• Implemented functionality for definition of strain rates in 'edit heat treatment segment' dialog.
• Added variables for Yield strength calculation: New variables category kinetics: prec. domains strength. New variables are:
  • TYSB: basic yield strength
  • TSSS: solid solution strengthening (not yet implemented)
  • TDS: dislocation strengthening
  • TGS: grain size strengthening (Hall-Petch strengthening)
  • TYS: total yield strength, sum of above values and TTAO_ALL for precipitation strengthening, which was available already in previous versions.
• Added variables for dynamic evolution of dislocation density (DDTC), subgrain size (SGDC) and grain size (GDC / not yet implemented). These represent the microstructure parameters as used in calculations.
• For deformation-induced effects on microstructure, added variables for the steady-state dislocation density (DDT_SS), subgrain size (SGD_SS) and grain size(GD_SS / not yet imlpemented).
• Modified size, arrangement and tab order in 'precipitation domain' dialog and 'phase status' dialog. Added dialog items for new features for strength calculation and deformation-induced effects.
• The 'range' variable now accepts ':' for definition of the number of intervals and ';' for input of step width. This feature is useful in 'for - endfor' loops, as well as plots.
• The pre- and post-segment scripts in the heat treatment now accept conditions and loops.
• Fixed bug in the 'functions&variables' dialog, where selection of functions in the physical data tab was not possible.
• 'Edit precipitate distribution' in 'phase status dialog can now parse variables.
• The command structure in SET_PRECIPITATION_PARAMETERS for precipitation domains has been synchronized with GUI (this was unfortunately necessary for reasons of consistency):
  • A new group 'strengt(h)' was added: 'strength s(u)perposition' and 'Ta(y)lor factor' from s(t)ructure group as well as 'Young's (m)odulus' and '(P)oisson's ratio' from (s)pecial group has been moved into this new group. Additionally the commands '(b)asic strength','(H)all-Petch coeff' and '(d)isl. strength coeff' were added to this group
  • Changes in group 's(t)ructure': new commands 'dislocation (e)volution','subgrain size e(v)olution' and 'grainsize evol(u)tion' with submenu for enabling/disabling '(e)volve dynamically' and setting coefficients (A)/(B)/(C)
  • Changes in group '(v)acancies': 'mean va diff. (d)istance' was moved into the submenu of 'va(c)ancy annihilation and generation'. A new command 'deformation-(i)nduced va-generation coeff'
• Modified temperature record in TTP plots: now takes temperature of last record instead of taking the one at nucleation time.
• Fixed bug where MatCalc crashes when removing plots with the RMB menu.
• Fixed bug where loops did not stop when encountering errors in a script.
• 'read and close' button in database dialog will now be disabled if database is read.
• Plot curves can now be selected with mouse even if legend is not displayed.
• Floating window positions are stored more accurately.
• Fixed several other minor bugs.