3D modeling of metallic grain growth

This paper will describe simulating metallic grain growth using our Gradient Weighted Moving Finite Elements code, GRAIN3D. We also describe the set of mesh topology change operations developed to respond to changes in the physical topology such as the collapse of grains and to maintain uniform calculational mesh quality. Validation of the method is demonstrated by comparison to analytic calculations. We present results of multigrain simulations where grain boundaries evolve by mean curvature motion and include results which incorporate grain boundary orientation dependence.