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Dual phase patterning during a congruent grain boundary phase transition in elemental copper
Lena Langenohl1, Tobias Brink2, Rodrigo Freitas3
1Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH, Max-Planck-Straße 1, 40237, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Nature Communications
|June 10, 2022
Summary
Grain boundaries in elemental copper exhibit nanoscale patterning due to two distinct phases. This transformation is diffusionless and kinetically limited at low temperatures.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Physical Metallurgy
Background:
- Grain boundary phase behavior significantly impacts interfacial properties in materials.
- Understanding the emergence and transformation of grain boundary phases in elemental metals is limited.
- Elemental copper serves as a model system to investigate fundamental grain boundary phenomena.
Purpose of the Study:
- To observe and characterize nanoscale patterning of grain boundaries in elemental copper.
- To identify the atomic structures of coexisting grain boundary phases.
- To elucidate the transformation mechanisms and kinetics of these phases.
Main Methods:
- Atomic resolution imaging to visualize nanoscale grain boundary structures.
- Computational grain boundary structure search to predict stable phases.
- Finite temperature atomistic simulations to study phase transitions under pressure.
Main Results:
- Observation of nanoscale patterning with two alternating grain boundary phases in elemental copper.
- Identification of distinct atomic structures for the observed grain boundary phases.
- Confirmation of a first-order, congruent, and diffusionless phase transformation via simulations.
- Room temperature patterning dominated by phase junctions, stabilized by elastic interactions.
Conclusions:
- Elemental copper grain boundaries can exhibit complex nanoscale phase patterning.
- The observed pattern formation is a result of a diffusionless phase transformation.
- Kinetically limited mobility of phase junctions and elastic interactions stabilize the pattern at low temperatures.
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