Acceleration of grain boundary motion in Al by small additions of Ga

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Abstract
The temperature dependence of 〈111〉 tilt grain boundaries with angles of misorientation of 38·2° and 40·5° was investigated in bicrystals of both pure (99·999%) Al and the same Al doped with 10ppmGa in the temperature regime between 400 and 580°C. The grain boundary mobility for the investigated grain boundaries over the entire investigated temperature range is enhanced by minor additions of Ga. Both the activation enthalpy and the pre-exponential factor are affected by Ga doping. The orientation dependence of grain boundary mobility is strongly reduced but not completely removed. The drastic rise in grain boundary mobility by the addition of Ga to pure Al is interpreted as a consequence of a change in the boundary structure and the mechanism of boundary migration owing to a pre-wetting phase transition and formation of a liquid (or quasiliquid) Ga-rich layer on the grain boundary.