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Segregation-induced changes in grain boundary cohesion and embrittlement in binary alloys

Journal Article · · Acta Materialia
 [1];  [2]
  1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI)
  2. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)

Grain boundary embrittlement occurs when a solute enriches at a grain boundary and lowers its cohesive energy. While grain boundary enrichment is usually attributed to equilibrium segregation effects, most models of embrittlement consider either the energetics of decohesion or the equilibrium adsorption at the boundary, but not both phenomena together. We develop an approach for the change in cohesive energy of a grain boundary of a pure metal upon introduction of solute under conditions of equilibrium segregation prior to fracture. A heuristic grain boundary cohesion map is presented to delineate whether a given solute–solvent pair will exhibit weakening or strengthening of grain boundaries. The analysis helps to clarify that grain boundary embrittlement necessitates a solute that will both lower the cohesive energy of the boundary and segregate in the first place. The map reasonably captures known metal–metal embrittling pairs.

Research Organization:
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22); US Office of Army Research
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0001299
OSTI ID:
1548301
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1251496
Journal Information:
Acta Materialia, Journal Name: Acta Materialia Journal Issue: C Vol. 95; ISSN 1359-6454
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (6)

Phase nucleation through confined spinodal fluctuations at crystal defects evidenced in Fe-Mn alloys journal March 2018
An Automated Computational Approach for Complete In-Plane Compositional Interface Analysis by Atom Probe Tomography journal February 2019
New nanoscale toughening mechanisms mitigate embrittlement in binary nanocrystalline alloys journal January 2018
Recent trends and open questions in grain boundary segregation journal July 2018
Fracture ab initio: A force-based scaling law for atomistically informed continuum models journal November 2018
Application of Machine Learning to Predict Grain Boundary Embrittlement in Metals by Combining Bonding-Breaking and Atomic Size Effects journal January 2020

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