Effect of solutes on texture evolution during grain growth in ZK60 alloy by phase field simulation

A three-dimensional (3D) multiscale phase field model was proposed to investigate the effect of Ca, Y and Al solutes on the texture evolution of ZK60 alloy during grain growth at 573 K under an applied compression stress of 270 MPa, in which the characteristics of the elastic anisotropy and grain boundary (GB) segregation caused by the solutes were taken into account. The results show that either Ca or Y addition can weaken the basal texture of ZK60, while Al addition enhances it. The deviation of the grain size distribution from the Hillert model becomes greater with the addition of Al, while Ca or Y addition reduces the deviation. The solute segregation-induced GB energy change has a very limited effect on the texture evolution compared with elastic anisotropy. The revealed mechanism is of great significance for the microstructure design of the ZK60 alloy by an appropriate alloying strategy.