Decomposition of general grain boundaries

As a central part of microstructure evolution, grain boundary (GB) migration is believed to be both monolithic and unidirectional. But here, we introduce the concept of GB decomposition: one GB separates into two new GBs by controlling the Peach-Koehler forces on its disconnections. Molecular dynamics simulation is used to reveal the disconnection mechanisms and direction-dependent motion behaviors associated with the reversible decomposition of a nickel Σ7 general GB. We also observed a decomposition-like process in a high-energy diffraction microscopy (HEDM) dataset of high purity nickel polycrystal (Science 2021, 374, 189-193), and performed HEDM-data-based simulation to confirm it. The decomposition should be considered as a new GB migration behavior, based on its particularity and potential universality.