Tracking the Emergence and Persistence of Abnormal Grain Growth in an Aluminum Alloy using…

Abstract

Abnormal grain growth is inherently three-dimensional, making 3D tracking of grain evolution essential for understanding its underlying mechanisms. This study combines synchrotron-based diffraction-contrast tomography and phase-contrast tomography to characterize the three-dimensional grain structure and quantify the size and spatial distribution of second-phase particles in the aluminum alloy AA5252. Using an interrupted annealing protocol, we tracked the persistent growth of abnormal grains and the emergence of abnormal growth in a grain initially belonging to the matrix. Although second-phase particles effectively suppressed grain growth in the matrix, variations in local particle density showed no apparent correlation with either the emergence or subsequent rapid growth of abnormal grains. Instead, crystallographic misorientation and, more notably, neighboring grain size were identified as stronger predictors of abnormal growth rate. Matrix grains were consumed more rapidly when they were relatively small and shared high-angle grain boundaries with the growing abnormal grain. The same trends were observed for the grain that underwent a transition from normal to abnormal growth. Remarkably, even before the onset of abnormal growth, this grain was surrounded by smaller matrix grains with exclusively high-angle grain boundaries, while the local particle density was slightly higher than average. These findings suggest that the same microstructural characteristics facilitate both the emergence and persistence of abnormal grain growth, although the mechanism triggering the transition to rapid growth remains unresolved.

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BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{schulzharder2026tracking,
  title = {{Tracking the Emergence and Persistence of Abnormal Grain Growth in an Aluminum Alloy using Diffraction-Contrast Tomography}},
  author = {Helmuth-André Schulz-Harder and Karolína Gutbrod and Madlen Atzen and Markus Ziehmer and Thomas Wilhelm and Orkun Furat and Yubin Zhang and Jette Oddershede and Haixing Fang and Pierre-Olivier Autran and Wolfgang Ludwig and Marc Bernacki and Volker Schmidt and Carl E. Krill III and Jules M. Dake},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.31176},
  eprint = {2610.31176},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.31176},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Tracking the Emergence and Persistence of Abnormal Grain Growth in an Aluminum Alloy using Diffraction-Contrast Tomography
AU  - Helmuth-André Schulz-Harder
AU  - Karolína Gutbrod
AU  - Madlen Atzen
AU  - Markus Ziehmer
AU  - Thomas Wilhelm
AU  - Orkun Furat
AU  - Yubin Zhang
AU  - Jette Oddershede
AU  - Haixing Fang
AU  - Pierre-Olivier Autran
AU  - Wolfgang Ludwig
AU  - Marc Bernacki
AU  - Volker Schmidt
AU  - Carl E. Krill III
AU  - Jules M. Dake
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/22
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.31176
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.31176
AB  - Abnormal grain growth is inherently three-dimensional, making 3D tracking of grain evolution essential for understanding its underlying mechanisms. This study combines synchrotron-based diffraction-contrast tomography and phase-contrast tomography to characterize the three-dimensional grain structure and quantify the size and spatial distribution of second-phase particles in the aluminum alloy AA5252. Using an interrupted annealing protocol, we tracked the persistent growth of abnormal grains and the emergence of abnormal growth in a grain initially belonging to the matrix. Although second-phase particles effectively suppressed grain growth in the matrix, variations in local particle density showed no apparent correlation with either the emergence or subsequent rapid growth of abnormal grains. Instead, crystallographic misorientation and, more notably, neighboring grain size were identified as stronger predictors of abnormal growth rate. Matrix grains were consumed more rapidly when they were relatively small and shared high-angle grain boundaries with the growing abnormal grain. The same trends were observed for the grain that underwent a transition from normal to abnormal growth. Remarkably, even before the onset of abnormal growth, this grain was surrounded by smaller matrix grains with exclusively high-angle grain boundaries, while the local particle density was slightly higher than average. These findings suggest that the same microstructural characteristics facilitate both the emergence and persistence of abnormal grain growth, although the mechanism triggering the transition to rapid growth remains unresolved.
ER  -

Abstract

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