The effect of grain boundaries on magnetic exchange interactions in iron

TL;DR

This study examines how grain boundaries and phosphorus segregation affect magnetic exchange interactions in iron, revealing local perturbations but limited impact on overall magnetic ordering.

Contribution

It provides a detailed atomistic analysis linking grain boundary structure and chemistry to mesoscale magnetic behavior in iron.

Findings

Grain boundaries cause strong local deviations in exchange interactions.

Phosphorus segregation suppresses antiferromagnetic couplings at grain boundaries.

Global Curie temperature remains largely unaffected by grain boundary density.

Abstract

This work investigates how grain boundaries (GBs) modify magnetic exchange interactions in bcc iron, with particular focus on the effect of phosphorus segregation. Using density-functional theory combined with the Liechtenstein-Katsnelson-Antropov-Gubanov Green's-function approach, we calculate Heisenberg exchange parameters for three symmetric tilt GBs, $\Sigma5(310)$, $\Sigma13(510)$, and $\Sigma13(320)$, and use these parameters in Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate finite-temperature magnetic behavior. All clean GBs exhibit strong local deviations from bulk exchange interactions, including antiferromagnetic coupling across the boundary plane. These negative exchange interactions are not governed by interatomic distance alone, but arise primarily from the altered local coordination and symmetry breaking at the GB. Phosphorus segregation, modeled in both substitutional and interstitial configurations at the $\Sigma5(310)$ GB, suppresses the antiferromagnetic couplings and significantly redistributes the local exchange landscape through chemical and electronic effects. Monte Carlo results show that, despite pronounced local perturbations, realistic GB densities cause only a small reduction in the Curie temperature because bulk-like regions dominate the global magnetic transition. A substantial decrease in Curie temperature appears only when the GB volume fraction is artificially increased. The results demonstrate that GBs strongly influence local magnetic interactions while having a limited effect on global magnetic ordering, and they establish a general framework for linking atomistic interfacial structure and chemistry to mesoscale magnetic behavior in Fe-based materials.