The diffusion of various elements, which differed with respect to their solubility in Al, was studied in bicrystals with a tilt grain boundary and a common <100> direction. An attempt was made to correlate grain-boundary penetration with properties such as the solubility, atomic size and reactivity of the diffusing atoms. The strongest correlation was found for the solubility limit of the element in Al. The experiments also yielded what appeared to be the first evidence of the reactive diffusion of O along grain boundaries in Al.

The Effect of Solubility of the Diffusant on its Grain-Boundary Penetration in Aluminium Bicrystals. S.Gut, K.Przybylowicz, I.Suliga: Materials Science Forum, 1999, 294-296, 573-6