Polycrystalline material

Metastable equilibrium
Grain boundary migration
Grain growth and Recrystallization
Electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD

Metastable Equilibrium
Grain boundaries are region of higher energy
So, well annealed polycrystalline material is always in metastable equilibrium

23

13 12
sin 1 sin 2 sin 3
Balance of grain-boundary
tensions for a grain-boundary
interaction in metastable
equilibrium
If GB energy is same (independent
of orientation) then

1 2 3 1200

Migration of GBs thermal activation

For complete metastable equilibrium the surface tension must

also balance over all the boundary faces
Any curved boundary
is acted by a force
towards its centre of
curvature

F /r

F 0

F 0

In real metallurgical materials

The boundaries have net curvature in one direction
Therefore inherently unstable and migrate towards their centre of
curvature
Planar (6 GBs) metastable equilibrium

Concave inwards (< 6 GBs) Shrink

> 6 GBs - Grow

Driving force for migration

Effect of the pressure difference caused by curved
boundary is to create a difference in free energy
(G) or chemical potential () that drives the atom
across the boundary

2Vm
G

r

Pulling force per unit area of boundary

Grain growth

G
F
Vm

Free energy difference due to

boundary curvature

Recrystallization
Difference in dislocation strain
energy between the two grains

Moving boundary velocity

Lead alloyed with tin

G
vM
Vm
Mobility of GB
Coherent twin boundary are almost immobile
Effect of solute
In general special boundaries are more
mobile than random GBs. This is because
solute preferentially segregate to random
grain boundaries (more open structure)
Due to solute drag

Kinetics of grain growth

Driving force for grain growth is to reduce total no. of grains thereby
increase the mean grain diameter

D 2 D02 kt
Experimentally it is found

D K 't

n = 0.5, for pure metals at very high temperatures

n usually less than 0.5,
due to solute drag effect

Effect of particles on GB migration

Force due to
solute drag
Force due to
GB curvature

Maximum grain size in presence of particle is

given by

Dmax

4r

3f

mean radius of particles

Vol. fraction of particles

To retard grain growth large volume fraction

of very small particles are required