Grain boundaries are Brownian ratchets

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

We demonstrate that grain boundaries (GBs) behave as Brownian ratchets, exhibiting direction-dependent mobilities and unidirectional motion under oscillatory driving forces or cyclic thermal annealing. We observed these phenomena for nearly all nonsymmetric GBs but not for symmetric ones. Our observations build on molecular dynamics and phase-field crystal simulations for a wide range of GB types and driving forces in both bicrystal and polycrystalline microstructures. We corroborate these simulation results through in situ experimental observations. We analyze these results with a Markov chain model and explore the implications of GB ratchet behavior for materials processing and microstructure tailoring.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)980-985
Number of pages6
JournalScience
Volume385
Issue number6712
Publication statusPublished - 30 Aug 2024
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 85203115434