A representation method for grain-boundary character

Abstract

Abstract As is well known, a grain boundary (GB) is defined by five macroscopic parameters. We propose a method that is useful for representing the GB properties of polycrystalline materials as a function of these five parameters. The properties might include distribution, energy, mobility, segregation and wetting conditions. This method is based on the ‘interface-plane scheme’, proposed by Wolf and Lutsko, where a GB is characterized by two interface-plane normals and a twist angle (n 1,n 2φ). Considering the equivalent GB descriptions in cubic materials, the ‘interface-plane scheme’ space (n 1,n 2,φ) is reduced to a unit triangle (100–110–111) for n 1, a double unit triangle (100–110–111 and 100–101–111) for n 2 and 0 ≤ φ < 2π. All equivalent GBs whose two GB normals are within a given tolerance angle from reference planes are plotted as a function of the twist angle φ. This representation method is applied to the GB distributions of an Fe—Mn—Cu polycrystalline alloy. As a result, significantly high fre...