Determination of Grain Boundary Atomic Structure Using Quantitative High Resolution Electron Microscopy

Abstract

Quantitative high resolution electron microscopy has been used to study the atomic structure of grain boundaries in metals. An example of the Σ11 (113)/[ 140] symmetric tilt grain boundary in Al is given. Results for atomic column locations were compared quantitatively with atomistic simulations of the structure of the grain boundary using Embedded Atom Method (EAM) potentials and Local Density Approximation (LDA) methods. There is a statistically significant difference between the experimental image and the simulated image based on the EAM. The experimentally determined grain boundary structure is in better agreement with the LDA calculation.