Grain boundary migration in solid state discontinuous reactions

Discontinuous reactions are a special class of solid state moving boundary reactions characterized by a discontinuous change in orientation and composition across the migrating reaction front that provides a short circuit path of solute transport. Grain boundary migration in discontinuous reactions is both of technological as well as fundamental interest. In this paper, the initiation/growth mechanism, product morphology, driving force, reaction kinetics, and effect of external parameters on the major discontinuous reactions, namely, discontinuous precipitation, coarsening, dissolution, and diffusion induced grain boundary migration have been discussed. In addition, a number of interesting features about boundary migration in discontinuous reactions has been analyzed. Finally, the scope and necessity of continued research attention in this area have been highlighted.