Grain Boundary Self-Diffusion in Nickel

Grain boundary self-diffusion in both the cast and the cold-rolled Puratronic 4N5 nickel was studied in the temperature range from 600 °C to 1000 °C. The experiments were carried out with the samples pre-annealed at 1100 °C in comparison to the samples pre-annealed at intended individual diffusion temperatures. The relative grain orientation was analyzed on the same samples by means of electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and grain boundaries (GBs) were characterized in terms of the coincidence site lattice (CSL) model. Considering the non-linear Arrhenius temperature dependencies obtained for most specimens by using conventional method of profile evaluation in the B-type kinetics and the appearance of two high-diffusivity paths in diffusion profiles measured, a more suitable BB-type and AB-type diffusion models were applied for data evaluation.