Effect of grain size on grain boundary segregation

A simple thermodynamic calculation to assess the effect of grain size on grain boundary segregation has been performed. It is shown that in binary alloys when the bulk solute content is small, segregation increases with increasing grain size. In ternary alloys, however, intergranular segregation depends both on the magnitude of segregation free energy and the bulk concentrations of the solute. It is pointed out that grain size could play an important role in the segregation phenomena, not only in metallic but also in ceramic systems.