Diffusion-controlled grain growth in two-phase solids

Microstructural evolution and the kinetics of grain growth in volume-conserved two-phase solids were investigated using two-dimensional (2-D) computer simulations based on a diffuse-interface field model. In this model, a two-phase microstructure is described by non-conserved field variables which represent crystallographic orientations of grains in each phase and by a conserved composition field variable which distinguishes the compositional difference between the two phases. The temporal and spatial evolution of these field variables were obtained through a numerical solution to the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau (TDGL) equations. The effect of the ratios of grain boundary energies to interfacial energy on the microstructure features was systematically studied. It was found that grain growth in a volume-conserved two-phase solid is controlled by long-range diffusion and follows the power growth law, R^m - R^m_o = kt with m = 3 in the scaling regime for all cases studied, including the microstructures containing only quadrijunctions. The effects of volume fractions and initial microstructures are discussed.