The Coupling of Grain Growth and Twinning in FCC Metals

Coherent twin boundaries (CTBs) routinely form during the annealing of polycrystalline metals, in the absence of an applied stress. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of normal grain growth in nanocrystalline metals show such annealing twins as well the formation of twin junctions. MD simulations and theoretical analyses demonstrate how these junctions form and that their formation necessarily retards grain boundary (GB) migration. Both CTB and GB migration occurs via disconnection motion. We identify the types of disconnections important for CTB migration and show the disconnection pile-ups at TJs during GB migration are responsible for CTB formation in the vicinity of TJs. Analysis further shows that at least two types twinning partials are to be expected during TJ migration and that these give rise to the multiple twinning near migrating TJs observed in the MD simulations.