Computational design for grain-oriented microstructure of functional ceramics prepared by templated grain growth

We have developed a computational model using Monte Carlo simulation in order to design grain-oriented microstructures of ceramics processed by templated grain growth for functional materials with anisotropic grain growth due to anisotropy in interfacial energies. The current model with plate-like template particles expressed the development of grain-oriented micro-structures with the low interfacial energy planes well faceted. In addition, the proposed model gave a guiding principle for optimizing the initial parameters (i.e., ratio of templates to total solid particles, initial size and aspect ratio of template particles, and amount of liquid phase), leading to highly grain-oriented ceramics with improved performances.