Grain rotation in impurity-doped two-dimensional colloidal polycrystals

Abstract

Grain texture evolution and coarsening after quenching can be achieved by curvature-driven growth and grain rotation. Here we examine grain rotation in coarsening, impurity-doped, two-dimensional colloidal polycrystals. We find the rate of rotation to be independent of the impurity concentration and proportional to the inverse of the grain size. The latter is rationalized by considering grain rotation driven by grain-boundary sliding and particle diffusion in the lattice. We also show that rotation driven grain growth and curvature driven growth are independent, with the latter being the dominant mechanism in our system. Next, we examine the dislocation reactions underlying grain rotation and observing its facilitation via the effective “sinking” of grain-boundary dislocations into triple junctions, as has been predicted by simulations. Published by the American Physical Society 2024