Magnetically induced abnormal grain growth in pure nickel

The evolution of the microstructure of cold-rolled pure Ni during annealing at 300–800°C for 120?min with and without a high magnetic field of 10?T was investigated. When the direction of the field was either parallel or perpendicular to the sample rolling direction (RD), the average grain size of the cube grains decreased, and abnormally grown grains with random orientation were observed. The migration of different kinds of grain boundaries, including Cube–Cube (C–C) grain boundaries, Cube–Non-cube (C–N) grain boundaries, and Cube–Abnormal (C–A) grain boundaries, was also investigated. The driving force produced by the magnetic field accelerated the migration of C–A grain boundaries, which reasonably explained the formation of abnormal growth.