Liquid grooving at grain boundaries

The kinetic dissolution and diffusion regimes of liquid grooving of grain boundaries with zero (or near-zero) dihedral angle at the top are discussed, and their perdominance criteria formulated. A new model of liquid grooving is proposed, according to which the top of the channel propagates in a diffusion regime, while its widening proceeds kinetically. Analytical (for the particular case of low solubility) and numerical solutions are obtained. The linear dimensions (depth and width) of the channel are estimated for the mixed regime.