Monte Carlo simulation of grain growth in textured metals using anisotropic grain boundary mobilities

Abstract

Grain growth after primary recrystallization is often accompanied by alterations of the texture which influences grain growth kinetics. Since the texture determines a variety of physical properties of a metal, it is of great interest to understand and to predict its evolution during annealing. In the field of grain growth simulation the Monte Carlo algorithm is widely used to model anisotropic grain growth. Here, the boundary migration is simulated by random spin flips on discrete 2D or 3D lattices. In order to incorporate anisotropy into the Monte Carlo model two principal ways are possible: using anisotropic grain boundary energies or anisotropic grain boundary mobilities. In the present work, the idea of anisotropic mobilities is applied to the Monte Carlo simulation in multi-component systems on 2D triangular lattices of 500 × 500 sites. In this way, texture evolution can be simulated. It is observed that the grains of a minor component which are at the beginning surrounded preferentially by boundaries of high mobility grow faster than the grains of a major component until the texture reverses completely and the competition between the components starts again but with opposite sign. These texture changes strongly affect the grain growth kinetics such that the grain growth exponent does not remain constant but changes significantly.