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Free Thermodynamics Software for Students and Teachers

Free Educational Package

Two smiling people, Professors Mats Hillert and Malin Selby, standing in front of a bookcase

About the Educational Package

Thanks to a cooperation with Professors Mats Hillert and Malin Selleby from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, we are able to provide an Educational Software Package for teaching and learning of thermodynamics and kinetic theory at an undergraduate level completely free of charge.

The package includes a limited version of our software, a collection of demo databases, and educational material for teaching and learning about the software and about thermodynamic and kinetic theory.

The Free Educational Package Includes:

Thermo-Calc Educational Software

Thermo-Calc Educational is a limited version of Thermo-Calc that is intended only for educational purposes in an academic environment. It is limited in the sense that calculations can only handle three components or fewer. In comparison, the full version of Thermo-Calc and the Add-on Modules can handle systems with up to 40 components.

The Add-On Modules included are:

  • Diffusion Module (DICTRA)
  • Precipitation Module (TC-PRISMA)
  • Process Metallurgy Module

The Steel Model LibraryNickel Model Library, Titanium Model Library, and Additive Manufacturing Module are not included in the Educational Package and can not be used to run calculations without a license.

The Thermo-Calc Educational license for free software is valid for one full year and can be downloaded again as needed.

Demo Databases

Thermo-Calc Educational comes with several demonstration databases that include thermodynamic, properties, and mobility data. While significantly smaller than our standard databases, the demo databases included with the free thermodynamics and properties software package are sufficient for solving the included examples. If you are interested in our full databases, you can read about them in the database section.

Thermodynamic and Properties Demo Databases:
  • ALDEMO: Includes Al, Cu Si, Sc, and Zr (subset of TCAL)
  • FEDEMO: Includes Fe, Cr, Mn, Ni, and C (subset of TCFE)
  • NIDEMO: Includes Ni, Cr, and Al (subset of TCNI)
  • CUDEMO: Includes Cu, Ti, and Zr (subset of TCCU)
  • SLDEMO: Includes Ag, Cu, and Sn (subset of TCSLD)
  • OXDEMO: Includes Al, C, Ca, Fe, O, S, and Si (a subset of TCOX)
  • SUBDEMO: Includes C, H, Fe, and O (subset of SSUB)
  • PAQ2: Public Aqueous Solutions Database: Includes: H, Na, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, C, N, O, S, and Cl
  • PG35: G35 Binary Semi-Conductors: Includes: Al, Ga, In, P, As, and Sb
  • PURE5: Includes critically assessed unary thermochemical data for the concerned elements. The PURE5 database is only intended for extracting data for the pure elements when performing assessment work, or for tabulating or plotting thermodynamic properties of the pure elements.
Mobility Demo Databases:
  • MALDEMO: Includes Al, Cu Si, Sc, and Zr (subset of MOBAL)
  • MFEDEMO: Includes Fe, Cr, Mn, Ni, and C (subset of MOBFE)
  • MNIDEMO: Includes Ni, Cr, and Al (subset of MOBNI)
  • MCUDEMO: Includes Cu, Ti, and Zr (subset of MOBCU)

Textbook with Exercises (and Solutions)

Computerized Thermodynamics for Materials Scientists and Engineers by Mats Hillert and Malin Selleby, Stockholm (2018). This is a 60 page PDF book that includes topics and exercises related to:

  • First and second laws of thermodynamics
  • Driving force and dissipation
  • Gibbs-Duhem relation
  • Gibbs phase rule
  • Adiabatic changes
  • Characteristic state function and Gibbs energy model
  • Constitution and constituents
  • Ideal solutions and related non-ideal solutions
  • Dilute solutions
  • The ideal gas model
  • Thermal vacancies
  • And many more

Suggested solutions to the book exercises are included in the teaching material.

Lecture Slides

Both PDF and MS PowerPoint slides are included to accompany the textbook.

  • Chapter 1: Basic Thermodynamics
  • Chapter 2: Solution Models

Computer Exercises (and Solutions)

A set of computer exercises developed for students to work with the thermodynamics and kinetics software. The examples are of three general categories:

  • Thermodynamic properties of elements and compounds
  • Phase diagrams
  • Equilibria in gases

Some example exercises include:

  • Define the system Co. What phase is most stable at 1 bar and 1000K?
  • Evaluate the molar Gibbs energy of the compound Fe3C at 1000 °C.
  • Calculate the ternary phase diagram W-Co-C at 1 bar and 1400 °C. Perform the calculation by varying the mole percent of Co and C.
  • Compute the carbon activity of a gas made by mixing 1 mole of H2 and 1 mole of CH4 at 1 bar and 1200 K.

Solutions to the computer exercises are included in the teaching material.

Diffusion Tube Wall

The Role of Diffusion in Materials - A Tutorial

This comprehensive tutorial teaches about the role of diffusion in materials and how the Diffusion Module (DICTRA) can be applied to materials design and processing. The tutorial is not included in the Educational Package, but teachers who instruct in diffusion may be interested in downloading this valuable content.

The tutorial includes a comprehensive introduction to Diffusion Theory, instructions on how to set up and run diffusion simulations in the Diffusion Module (DICTRA), and twelve examples, some of which can be run using the Educational software and databases.

Equations Written Over Laptop

Discount for Academic institutions

While the free Educational Package is sufficient for many teaching programs, it may be too limited for some, particularly more advanced programs.

For teachers who wish to use the full version of Thermo-Calc for teaching classes, there is a discounted package available to academic institutions which have authority to teach and examine undergraduate students. This special package is referred to as Academic Network Site Package (ANSP) and you can learn more about it on the Licensing Options page.

System Requirements

The free thermodynamics and kinetics software for education is available for Windows, Linux, and macOS. Find out whether your computer fulfils the requirements at our System Requirements page.

Download The Free Educational Package

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