Grain Boundary Diffusion and Segregation in the Solid State Phase Transformations

We consider the problem of solute diffusion and segregation in the grain boundaries moving during a phase transformation in the framework of Cahn’s impurity drag model. The concept of a dynamic segregation factor for the diffusion along moving grain boundaries is introduced. The difference between static and dynamic segregation factors may cause the apparent difference of the triple product of the segregation factor, grain boundary width and grain boundary diffusion coefficient for stationary and moving grain boundaries. The difference between static and dynamic segregation is experimentally verified for the Cu(In)-Bi system, for which the parameters of static segregation are well-known. It is shown that the complications associated with the dynamic segregation may be avoided during the study of the discontinuous ordering reaction. From the kinetics of this reaction, the activation energy of the grain boundary self-diffusion can be determined.