A unified theory of recovery, recrystallization and grain growth, based on the stability and growth of cellular microstructures .1. The basic model

An analysis of the growth and stability of cellular microstructures, which takes account of the orientation dependence of boundary energies and mobilities, is presented and used to develop a simple unified theory of continuous and discontinuous recovery, recrystallization and grain growth. The analysis shows that low angle subgrain structures are intrinsically very unstable whilst medium to high angle structures may be very stable. The model is used to analyse discontinuous subgrain growth, primary recrystallization, the effects of texture on grain growth and the stability of highly strained metals. (C) 1997 Acta Metallurgica Inc.