A thermokinetic description of nanoscale grain growth: Analysis of the activation energy effect

Abstract The inhibition of grain growth by solute segregation in nanoscale materials has often been described using kinetic models (e.g. Acta Mater 1999;47:2143) or thermokinetic models (e.g. Acta Mater 2009;57:1466), in which constant activation energy and a negligible effect of solute segregation on activation energy were assumed. In this paper, an intact thermokinetic model for nanoscale grain growth was developed by incorporating mixed effects of activation energy and grain boundary (GB) energy. By application of the model to nanoscale grain growth in Ni–P, Pb–Zr, Fe–Zr and Ru–Al alloys, the validity of the present model was confirmed, in combination with verification of the initial condition of GB segregation. On this basis, the increase of activation energy and the decrease of GB energy are interrelated and thus the kinetics and the thermodynamics of normal grain growth are linked. Based on a comparison of three characteristic velocities VTK, VGE and VAE of GB derived from the present thermokinetic model, grain boundary energy model and activation energy model, a mechanism of controlled nanoscale grain growth was proposed, which indicated a transition from a kinetic-controlled to a thermodynamic-controlled process.