QUANTITATIVE METALLOGRAPHY FOR COMPUTER-S IMULATION OF ABNORMAL GRAIN-GROWTH IN 3 DIMENSIONS

Abnormal grain growth in three dimensions has been simulated using a f cc lattice with a Monte Carlo technique. The technique is fundamentall y the same one as had been employed successfully by Exxon group to mod el grain growth, recrystallization and so on. The microstructural evol ution, the grain volume distribution and the geometrical features of g rain have been studied in stereology or quantitative metallography. Th e growth of abnormally large grains is modelled appropriately in three dimension, which is reflected distinctly as the change in volume freq uency of the grain size distribution. The standard deviation for the g rain volume distribution, In sigma(gv) increases and the mean number o f faces per grain, F-g decreases during abnormal grain growth. It is u nderstood that the decrease of F-g is attributed to the larger decreme nt in the number of faces for neighbors than the increment for the abn ormally-growing grain. In addition, the simulated results for the grai n volume distribution and the relationship between the grain volume an d the number of faces per grain are in good agreement with the experim ental ones on normal grain growth.