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Interface stress in polycrystalline materials: the case of nanocrystalline Pd
R Birringer1, M Hoffmann, P Zimmer
1FR 7.3 Technische Physik, Universität des Saarlandes, Postfach 151150, Gebäude 43B, D-66041 Saarbrücken, Germany. r.birringer@rz.uni-sb.de
Physical Review Letters
|May 15, 2002
Abstract:
Based on a generalization of a capillary equation for solids, we develop a method for measuring the absolute value of grain-boundary stress in polycrystalline samples having a large interface-to-volume ratio. The grain-boundary stress in nanocrystalline Pd is calculated from x-ray diffraction measurements of the average grain size and the residual-strain-free lattice spacings, yielding a value of 1.2+/-0.1 N/m. The random distribution of crystallite orientations in the sample suggests that this value is characteristic of high-angle grain boundaries in Pd.