Ostwald ripening with non-equilibrium vacancies

Abstract Ripening in non-dilute binary solutions is analyzed by taking into account the influence of non-equilibrium vacancies, generated by non-equal intrinsic fluxes of the components. A mathematical model has been developed for both coherent and incoherent precipitates. In the case of coherent precipitates the ripening kinetics demonstrates three stages, with the second stage characterized by a time exponent closer to 1/2 than to 1/3. The standard deviation of the particle size distribution is larger than that for a Lifshitz–Slyozov–Wagner distribution.