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Estimation of grain boundary segregation enthalpy and its role in stable nanocrystalline alloy design

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Abstract

Grain boundary segregation provides a method for stabilization of nanocrystalline metals—an alloying element that will segregate to the boundaries can lower the grain boundary energy, attenuating the driving force for grain growth. The segregation strength relative to the mixing enthalpy of a binary system determines the propensity for segregation stabilization. This relationship has been codified for the design space of positive enthalpy alloys; unfortunately, quantitative values for the grain boundary segregation enthalpy exist in only very few material systems, hampering the prospect of nanocrystalline alloy design. Here we present a Miedema-type model for estimation of grain boundary segregation enthalpy, with which potential nanocrystalline phase-forming alloys can be rapidly screened. Calculations of the necessary enthalpies are made for ∼2500 alloys and used to make predictions about nanocrystalline stability.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported primarily by the U.S. Army Research Office under contract W911NF-09-1-0422, with partial additional support from the Solid State Solar Thermal Energy Conversion (S3TEC), an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under DE-SC0001299.

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  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139, USA

    Heather A. Murdoch & Christopher A. Schuh

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  1. Heather A. Murdoch
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  2. Christopher A. Schuh
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Correspondence to Christopher A. Schuh.

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Murdoch, H.A., Schuh, C.A. Estimation of grain boundary segregation enthalpy and its role in stable nanocrystalline alloy design. Journal of Materials Research 28, 2154–2163 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2013.211

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