On the orientation of grain boundaries in cadmium recrystallized during hot deformatio

The authors are grateful to Professor K. P. Abraham for the provision of facilities and encouragement. One of us (PRR) acknowledges the award of a National Associateship by the UGC which facilitated a short-time visit to the Indian Institute of Science.

Investigation of the local Fe magnetic moments at the grain boundaries of the Ca2FeReO6 double perovskite

The local Fe ferromagnetic (FM) moment at the grain boundaries of a ceramic sample of Ca2FeReO6 double perovskite was investigated by means of x-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy at the Fe L-2,L-3 edges and compared to the overall bulk magnetization. We found that, at the grain boundaries, the Fe FM moments at H=5 T are much smaller than expected and that the MxH curve is harder than in the bulk magnetization. These results suggest a larger degree of Fe/Re antisite disorder at the grain boundaries of this sample, shedding light into the intriguing nonmetallic resistivity behavior despite the reported presence of free carriers. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Orientation Of Grain-Boundaries In Cadmium Recrystallized During Hot Deformation

The authors are grateful to Professor K. P. Abraham for the provision of facilities and encouragement. One of us (PRR) acknowledges the award of a National Associateship by the UGC which facilitated a short-time visit to the Indian Institute of Science.

Nonclassical rotational inertia in a two-dimensional bosonic solid containing grain boundaries

We study the occurrence of nonclassical rotational inertia (NCRI) arising from superfluidity along grain boundaries in a two-dimensionalbosonic system. We make use of a standard mapping between the zero-temperature properties of this system and the statistical mechanics of interacting vortex lines in the mixed phase of a type-II superconductor. In the mapping, the liquid phase of the vortex system corresponds to the superfluid bosonic phase. We consider numerically obtained polycrystalline configurations of the vortex lines in which the microcrystals are separated by liquidlike grain-boundary regions which widen as the vortex system temperature increases. The NCRI of the corresponding zero-temperature bosonic systems can then be numerically evaluated by solving the equations of superfluid hydrodynamics in the channels near the grain boundaries. We find that the NCRI increases very abruptly as the liquid regions in the vortex system (equivalently, superfluid regions in the bosonic system) form a connected, system-spanning structure with one or more closed loops. The implications of these results for experimentally observed supersolid phenomena are discussed.

Investigation of Surface Grooves from Migrating Grain Boundaries

Visible-light microscopy (VLM) and atomic-force microscopy (AFM) were used to study the progression of grain-boundary grooving and migration in high-purity alumina (Lucalox™). Groove profiles from the same grain boundaries were revisited using AFM following successive heat-treatments. The grooves measured from migrating grain boundaries were found to have asymmetric partial-angles compared to those measured from boundaries that did not migrate during the experiment. For a moving boundary, the grain with the larger partial-angle was consistently found to grow into the grain with the smaller partial-angle. Migrating boundaries were observed to leave behind remnant thermal grooves. The observations indicate that the boundary may be bowing out during the migration process.

Directional grain growth from anisotropic kinetic roughening of grain boundaries in sheared colloidal crystals

The fabrication of functional materials via grain growth engineering implicitly relies on altering the mobilities of grain boundaries (GBs) by applying external fields. Although computer simulations have alluded to kinetic roughening as a potential mechanism for modifying GB mobilities, its implications for grain growth have remained largely unexplored owing to difficulties in bridging the widely separated length and time scales. Here, by imaging GB particle dynamics as well as grain network evolution under shear, we present direct evidence for kinetic roughening of GBs and unravel its connection to grain growth in driven colloidal polycrystals. The capillary fluctuation method allows us to quantitatively extract shear-dependent effective mobilities. Remarkably, our experiments reveal that for sufficiently large strains, GBs with normals parallel to shear undergo preferential kinetic roughening, resulting in anisotropic enhancement of effective mobilities and hence directional grain growth. Single-particle level analysis shows that the mobility anisotropy emerges from strain-induced directional enhancement of activated particle hops normal to the GB plane. We expect our results to influence materials fabrication strategies for atomic and block copolymeric polycrystals as well.

Observation of magnetically hard grain boundaries in double-perovskite Sr2FeMoO6

Unusual low-temperature magneto-resistance (MR) of ferromagnetic Sr2FeMoO6 polycrystals has been attributed to magnetically hard grain boundaries which act as spin valves. We detected the different magnetic hysteresis curves for the grains and the grain boundaries of polycrystalline Sr2FeMoO6 by utilizing the different probing depths of the different detection modes of x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), namely, the total electron yield (TEY) mode (probing depth similar to 5 nm) and the total fluorescence yield (TFY) mode (probing depth similar to 100 nm). At 20 K, the magnetic coercivity detected in the TEY mode (H-c,H- TEY) was several times larger than that in the TFY mode (H-c,H- TFY), indicating harder ferromagnetism of the grain boundaries than that of the grains. At room temperature, the grain boundary magnetism became soft and H-c,H- TEY and H-c,H- TFY were nearly the same. From the line-shape analysis of the XAS and XMCD spectra, we found that in the grain boundary region the ferromagnetic component is dominated by Fe2+ or well-screened signals, while the non-magnetic component is dominated by Fe3+ or poorly screened signals. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2014

Magnitude and Origin of Electrical Noise at Individual Grain Boundaries in Graphene

Grain boundaries (GBs) are undesired in large area layered 2D materials as they degrade the device quality and their electronic performance. Here we show that the grain boundaries in graphene which induce additional scattering of carriers in the conduction channel also act as an additional and strong source of electrical noise especially at the room temperature. From graphene field effect transistors consisting of single GB, we find that the electrical noise across the graphene GBs can be nearly 10 000 times larger than the noise from equivalent dimensions in single crystalline graphene. At high carrier densities (n), the noise magnitude across the GBs decreases as proportional to 1/n, suggesting Hooge-type mobility fluctuations, whereas at low n close to the Dirac point, the noise magnitude could be quantitatively described by the fluctuations in the number of propagating modes across the GB.

Microstructural evolution and mechanical characteristics in nanocrystalline nickel with a bimodal grain-size distribution

An attractive microstructural possibility for enhancing the ductility of high-strength nanocrystals is to develop a bimodal grain-size distribution, in which the fine grains provide strength, and the coarser grains enable strain hardening. Annealing of nanocrystalline Ni over a range of temperatures and times led to microstructures with varying volume fractions of coarse grains and a change in texture. Tensile tests revealed a drastic reduction in ductility with increasing volume fraction of coarse grains. The reduction in ductility may be related to the segregation of sulphur to grain boundaries.

Grain boundary strengthening in strongly textured magnesium produced by hot rolling

The grain size dependence of the yield stress in hot rolled 99.87 pct magnesium sheets and rods was measured in the temperature range 77 K to 420 K. Hot rolling produced strong basal textures and, for a given grain size, the hot rolled material has a higher strength than extruded material. The yield strength-grain size relation in the above temperature range follows the Hall-Petch equation, and the temperature dependencies of the Hall-Petch constants σ0 and k are in support of the theory of Armstrong for hcp metals that the intercept σ0 is related to the critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) for basal slip (easy slip) and the slope k is related to the CRSS for prismatic slip (difficult slip) occurring near the grain boundaries. In the hot rolled magnesium, σ0 is larger and k is smaller than in extruded material, observations which are shown to result from strong unfavorable basal and favorable 1010 textures, respectively. Texture affects the Hall-Petch constants through its effect on the orientation factors relating them to the CRSS for the individual slip systems controlling them.

Spatial correlation in grain misorientation distribution

Grain misorientation was studied in relation to the nearest neighbor's mutual distance using electron back-scattered diffraction measurements. The misorientation correlation function was defined as the probability density for the occurrence of a certain misorientation between pairs of grains separated by a certain distance. Scale-invariant spatial correlation between neighbor grains was manifested by a power law dependence of the preferred misorientation vs. inter-granular distance in various materials after diverse strain paths. The obtained negative scaling exponents were in the range of -2 +/- 0.3 for high-angle grain boundaries. The exponent decreased in the presence of low-angle grain boundaries or dynamic recrystallization, indicating faster decay of correlations. The correlations vanished in annealed materials. The results were interpreted in terms of lattice incompatibility and continuity conditions at the interface between neighboring grains. Grain-size effects on texture development, as well as the implications of such spatial correlations on texture modeling, were discussed.

Breakdown in p‐n junction diodes made on polycrystalline silicon of large grain size

This communication describes the voltage‐current characteristics in the breakdown region of p‐n junctions made on polycrystalline silicon of large grain size. The observed soft breakdown characteristics have been explained by taking into account the effect of curvature of the junction near the grain boundaries.

The influence of grain size on deformation of copper

It is well know that grain boundaries enhance strength at low temperatures by acting as obstacles to dislocation motion, and they retard strength at higher temperatures by processes involving grain boundary sliding. The available data on the influence of grain boundaries on deformation in copper is summarized. Equi-channel angular extrusion offers a convenient means for imposing severe plastic deformation to refine the grain size in bulk materials. Experimental data on fine grained copper produced by equi-channel angular extrusion will be described, and the implications of the data for diffusion creep and superplasticity will be discussed.

Texture and grain boundary character distribution during Equal Channel Angular Extrusion of some two-phase copper alloys

In the present work, a thorough investigation of evolution of microstructure and texture has been carried out to elucidate the evolution of texture and grain boundary character distribution (GBCD) during Equal Channel Angular Extrusion (ECAE) of some model two-phase materials, namely Cu-0.3Cr and Cu-40Zn. Texture of Cu-0.3Cr alloy is similar to that reported for pure copper. On the other hand, in Cu-40Zn alloy, texture evolution in α and β (B2) phases are interdependent. In Cu-0.3Cr alloy, there is a considerable decreases in volume fraction of low angle boundaries (LAGBs), only a slight increase in CSL boundaries, but increase in high angle grain boundaries (HAGBs) from 1 pass to 4 passes for both the routes. In the case of Cu-40Zn alloy, there is an appreciable increase in CSL volume fraction.