Thermodynamic and Kinetic/Mobility Databases

This guide describes how to define and construct a thermodynamic or kinetic database. It includes details about the data structures and formats of the Thermo‑Calc databases as well as the Diffusion Module (DICTRA) database-extensions.

The Thermo‑Calc databases are created and maintained in the Thermo‑Calc Database Format (TDB) which is an international standard for the CALPHAD-type thermodynamic calculations and kinetic simulations. This document gives a full description of the TDB format (with the Diffusion Module (DICTRA) database extension) and is a comprehensive guide about how to create and manage a Thermo‑Calc (and Diffusion Module (DICTRA)) database.

Usually, a Thermo‑Calc or Diffusion Module (DICTRA) database is constructed as a single text file with an extension of TDB, for example, PAQ2setup.TDB. For some databases (especially large databases used with older versions of Thermo‑Calc or Diffusion Module (DICTRA)) a database may consist of one primary-definition file (***setup.TDB) and several additional-definition TDB files (such as ***param.TDB, ***funct.TDB, ***refer.TDB, etc. These are built for a variety of defined parameters, functions, references and so forth, and are linked to the ***setup.TDB file through the correct use of the TYPE_DEFINITION and/or FTP_FILE commands inside the ***setup.TDB file.

With Thermo‑Calc, the Add-on Modules and Thermo‑Calc Software Development Kits (SDKs), you can code everything into a single ***setup.TDB file for a database at any scale.