Precipitate-free zone
In materials science, a precipitate-free zone (PFZ) refers to microscopic localized regions around grain boundaries that are free of precipitates (solid impurities forced outwards from the grain during crystallization). It is a common phenomenon that arises in polycrystalline materials (crystalline materials with stochastically-oriented grains) where heterogeneous nucleation of precipitates is the dominant nucleation mechanism.