Study of rapid grain boundary migration in a nanocrystalline Ni thin film

Abstract Grain boundary migration associated with abnormal grain growth in pulsed-laser deposited Ni was studied in real time by annealing electron transparent films in situ in the transmission electron microscope. The resulting texture evolution and grain boundary types produced were evaluated by ex situ electron backscatter diffraction of interrupted anneals. The combination of these two techniques allowed for the investigation of grain growth rates, grain morphologies, and the evolution of the orientation and grain boundary distributions. Grain boundaries were found to progress in a sporadic, start/stop fashion with no evidence of a characteristic grain growth rate. The orientations of the abnormally growing grains were found to be predominately 〈1 1 1〉//ND throughout the annealing process. A high fraction of twin boundaries developed during the annealing process. The intermittent growth from different locations of the grain boundary is discussed in terms of a vacancy diffusion model for grain growth.