Effect of grain boundary engineering on microstructural stability during annealing

Grain boundary engineering, which increases the special boundary fraction, may improve microstructural stability during annealing. Different processing routes are undertaken to establish the effectiveness of each and to better understand which microstructural features determine the resulting stability. We find that multiple cycles of grain boundary engineering result in a material that resists abnormal grain growth better than other processing routes despite similarities in special boundary fraction, grain size, and general boundary connectivity among as-processed materials. (c) 2009 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.