Thermodynamic effect of elastic stress on grain boundary segregation of phosphorus in a low alloy steel

Grain boundary (GB) segregation of P in 2.25Cr1Mo steel induced by elastic stress shows that the P equilibrium concentration, after reaching the non-equilibrium concentration maximum at critical time, returns to its initial thermal equilibrium level. This finding confirms the interesting phenomenon that the effect of elastic stress on GB segregation of P is significant in kinetics while slight in thermodynamics. Through extending the "pressure" in classical theory of chemical potential to the "elastic stress", the thermodynamic effect of elastic stress on GB segregation is studied, and the relationship between elastic stress and segregation Gibbs energy is formulated. The formulas reveal that the difference in the segregation Gibbs energy between the elastically-stressed and non-stressed states depends on the excess molar volume of GB segregation and the magnitude of elastic stress. Model calculations in segregation Gibbs energy confirm that the effect of elastic stress on the thermodynamics of equilibrium GB segregation is slight, and the theoretical analyses considerably agree with the experimental results. The confirmation indicates that the nature of the thermodynamic effect is well captured. - Highlights: • GB segregation of P after stress aging returns to its initial thermal equilibrium level. • Relationship between elastic stress and segregation energy is formulated. • Thermodynamic effect relies on excess molar volume and magnitude of elastic stress. • Effect of elastic stress on Gibbs energy of GB segregation is estimated to be slight. • Complete theory of the effect of elastic stress on grain boundary segregation is setup