Phase field modelling of stressed grain growth: Analytical study and the effect of microstructural length scale

We establish the correlation between the diffuse interface and sharp interface descriptions for stressed grain boundary migration by presenting analytical solutions for stressed migration of a circular grain boundary in a bicrystalline phase field domain. The validity and accuracy of the phase field model is investigated by comparing the phase field simulation results against analytical solutions. The phase field model can reproduce precise boundary kinetics and stress evolution provided that a thermodynamically consistent theory and proper expressions for model parameters in terms of physical material properties are employed. Quantitative phase field simulations are then employed to investigate the effect of microstructural length scale on microstructure and texture evolution by stressed grain growth in an elastically deformed polycrystalline aggregate. The simulation results reveal a transitional behaviour from normal to abnormal grain growth by increasing the microstructural length scale.