The steady state growth rate of a recrystallization front in regions of heterogeneous dislocation density

The paper investigates whether a change from a homogeneous to an inhomogeneous dislocation distribution, assumed to be caused by a slight additional deformation, can lead to an increase of the recrystallization temperature of a deformed metal. In this case, the higher temperature would indicate a more stable deformation structure despite the increase of stored energy. The recrystallization temperature is related to the growth rate. Hence, the steady state velocity of a recrystallization front moving either parallel or vertically to the stripes of a simplified two-dimensional heterogeneous dislocation distribution of parallel sections of higher and lower dislocation densities is calculated. The results show that if a front growths through the high and low density sections in series an overall slower rate despite higher mean dislocation density is, indeed, possible. However, growing in the parallel arrangement always leads to a higher growth rate compared with the homogeneous case of slightly less stored energy. Since in a real structure the faster growth is likely to succeed, the recrystallization temperature observed will be lowered with additional deformation in accordance with experimental experience.