Development of a level set methodology to simulate grain growth in the presence of real secondary phase particles and stored energy - Application to a nickel-base superalloy

The influence of secondary phase particles on grain growth (Zener pinning) is simulated in two dimensions using a level set method. Several simulations with circular particles are performed to study the influence of particle surface fraction and distribution. The limiting grain sizes are compared to previous numerical simulations from literature. It is shown that the method allows to take into account the morphology of real particles as measured by microscopy. Moreover, the model also allows to introduce stored energy driven grain boundary migration in Zener pinning simulations. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.