For crystal materials, the grain boundary structure is complex, which is usually the place in which stress concentration and impurity accumulate. Grain boundary structure and movement have a great influence on the macroscopic properties of crystal materials, therefore, it is of great significance to study the microstructure of grain boundary. With the phase filed crystal approach, the structure of low-angle symmetric tilt grain boundary and dislocation motion at nanoscale are studied. The low-angle symmetric tilt grain boundary structure can be described by a dislocation model, in which the grain boundary can be regarded as consisting of a series of edge dislocations at a certain distance. For a relaxation process and applied stress process, the position change of dislocation motion at grain boundaries and the change of free energy density of the system are observed. Furthermore, we also analyze the influence of temperature on the grain boundary structure and the dislocation motion. In the relaxation process, the free energy of the crystal system is higher under high temperature conditions. The results show that the motion of dislocation pairs in the grains can consume the internal energy and release the distortion energy stored at the grain boundary, and thus making the system more stable and the energy reach the lowest value earlier. Simulation results show that the lower the temperature of the system, the faster the free energy density decreases, the faster the regular arrangement rate of atoms increases, the shorter the time required for the free energy density to reach a stable state becomes. And when the grain boundary reaches a steady state, the arrangement of the dislocations becomes more and more regular and arranges in a straight line. For an applied stress process, with the decrease of temperature, the time required for the first encounter of dislocation pairs and the time required for the formation of single crystal become longer, and it takes more time for the first encounter of dislocation pairs in crystals to disappear completely. Further studies also show that with the decrease of temperature, the free energy density exhibits a multi-stage ascending and descending process. The rising process of energy curve corresponds to the stage of dislocation climbing along the grain boundary, and the decline process corresponds to the stage of dislocation decomposition and encounter annihilation. At the same time, the dislocation pairs’ reaction becomes more complex. Finally, the dislocations annihilate with each other.

Grain boundary affects the microstructure of metal material, and thus further its macroscopic properties. As is well known, under the action of applied stress, the grain boundary migrates. The structures and arrangements of grain boundary dislocations at different misorientation angles are very different, which affects the macrophysical and chemical properties of metal crystal. Therefore, it is of great theoretical and practical significance to study the dislocation structure and reaction mechanism of grain boundary under different misorientations for further studying the material properties.The phase field crystal method is used to simulate the low-angle asymmetric tilt grain boundary structure and dislocation motion on a nanoscale. From the perspective of the change of the position of the grain boundary dislocation motion under the applied stress and the change of the free energy of the crystal system, the influences of the misorientation angle on the low-angle asymmetric tilt grain boundary structure and the motion of the grain boundary dislocation are analyzed. The results show that the types of dislocation pairs of low-angle asymmetric tilt grain boundaries at different misorientation angles are the same. With the increase of misorientation angle, the grain boundary dislocation pairs increase, and n1n2 and n4n5 type dislocation pairs are more easily formed at the grain boundaries. Under the action of applied stress, the initial movement states of the grain boundary dislocation pairs at different misorientation angles are all climbing along the grain boundaries. As the system energy accumulates, the larger the misorientation angle is, the more the number of decomposed grain boundary dislocation pairs decomposed will be, and only in the dislocation pairs of n1n2 and n4n5 type there occurs decomposition reaction. There are four stages in the free energy curve of the low-angle asymmetric tilt grain boundary system at different misorientation angles, which correspond to the dislocation pairs climbing, dislocation pairs sliding and decomposition, dislocation pairs reaction to form single crystal, and the free energy rising process of the system. Further research shows that as the misorientation angle increases, the time for the single crystal system formed by the dislocation of grain boundary pairs to annihilate is required to be long.

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