Large-scale multi-phase-field simulation of grain growth with anisotropic grain boundary properties

Abstract

A lot of numerical studies have so far been conducted to systematically investigate the effects of anisotropic grain boundary properties on grain growth. Nevertheless, conclusive knowledge on the correlations between boundary properties and grain growth characteristics is not yet established, which is mainly due to insufficient statistics coming from the limited computer resources. In this study, by utilizing parallel graphics processing unit computing on a supercomputer, we perform large-scale simulations of anisotropic grain growth with more than three million initial grains. The multi-phase-field grain growth model is employed, enabling accurate and efficient treatment of grain growth. Misorientation-dependent anisotropies in grain boundary properties are introduced by simple models. Through a series of grain growth simulations with the misorientation-dependent properties, the anisotropy effects on the growth behaviors are elucidated in detail.