The interplay between grain boundary structure and defect sink/annealing behavior

We present a series of results from atomistic simulations in three different materials (3 crystal structures) that demonstrate that the multiplicity of grain boundary (GB) structures at fixed macroscopic GB degrees of freedom is both extremely large and ubiquitous. The GB energy vs. misorientation curve that is commonly discussed is in fact a wide band, with many GB states very close in energy. The existence of so many GB states suggests that GB configurational entropy S_c  is important for GB properties. We demonstrate that the GB S_c  consists of two major contributions, one of which is geometric in nature and one that depends on bonding. We then show how this concept can be employed to predict GB relaxation dynamics by analogy with Adam-Gibbs theory, originally derived to predict the properties of glass forming liquids. Finally, we apply these predictions to understand GB denuded zone size during irradiation.