Grain Growth Stagnation in Thin Films Due to Shear-Coupled Grain Boundary Migration

Abstract

We have considered normal grain growth in thin films attached to a substrate and shown that shear-coupled grain boundary migration results in the build-up of elastic stresses in the film. We proposed a semi-quantitative model of grain growth, combining the elements of disclinations theory with the Burke-Turnbull model of normal grain growth. We have shown that shear-coupled grain boundary migration may lead to stagnation of normal grain growth, whereas for high coupling factor values, the grains in the film do not grow at all. Finally, we discussed the possible mechanisms of stress relaxation and resulting activation energies of grain growth.