A thermokinetic description of nanoscale grain growth: Analysis of initial grain boundary excess amount

A thermokinetic description was performed for nanoscale grain growth by analyzing the effect of grain boundary (GB) segregation on the initial GB excess amount, Γb. Compared with the model assuming a linear relation between Γb and grain size (i.e. Γb < Γb0, the saturated value) [Chen et al., Acta Mater. 57 (2009) 1466], the current description with Γb = Γb0, from Kirchheim’s GB energy relation, is more applicable for strongly segregating alloys with Γb generally approaching saturation at the beginning of grain growth.