Modelling of grain boundary impurity segregation during high temperature plastic deformation

A modified theoretical model is proposed to predict the grain boundary segregation of impurity atoms during high temperature plastic deformation. The model is based on the supersaturated vacancy-impurity complex created by plastic deformation and involves quasi-thermodynamics and kinetics. Model predictions are made for phosphorus grain boundary segregation during plastic deformation in ferrite steel. The results reveal that phosphorus segregates at grain boundaries during plastic deformation. At a given temperature, under a certain strain rate the segregation increases with increasing deformation amount until reaching a steady value, and at the same deformation amount it increases with increasing strain rate. The predicted results are compared with the available experimental values, indicating that there is a reasonable agreement between the theoretical predictions and the experimental observations.