Solute concentrations and strains in nanograined materials Original Research Article

Taking advantage of both the Gibbs and McLean adsorption isotherms, we develop a Gibbs-approach-based adsorption isotherm for grain boundary (GB) segregation in nanograined (ng) polycrystals. An excess GB thickness is introduced to describe the excess of GB atomic volume in comparison with the atomic volume in lattice. The GB bulk modulus is determined with the excess GB thickness and a universal function. The newly developed adsorption isotherm is able to analyze simultaneously stresses, concentrations and their coupling behaviors in grains and GBs. Numerical calculations and plots are conducted to illustrate the theoretical analysis. The results show that the apparent solute concentration could be greatly enhanced in ng materials, due to a large grain boundary volume fraction and a considerable increase in the lattice concentration that is, in turn, boosted by the concentration-induced stresses.