Negative temperature dependence of recrystallized grain size: analytical formulation and experimental confirmation

The catalyzing effect on nucleation of recrystallization from pre-existing grains is analyzed, analogy to the foreign nucleus size effect in heterogeneous nucleation. Analytical formulation of the effective nucleation site for recrystallization leads to a negative temperature dependence of recrystallized grain size. Non-isochronal annealing, where annealing time is set just enough for the completion of recrystallization at different temperature, is conducted on pure copper after severe plastic deformation. More homogeneous and smaller grains are obtained at higher annealing temperature. The good fitting between analytical and experimental results unveils the intrinsic feature of this negative temperature dependence of recrystallized grain size.