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Published on: April 22, 2013
Segregation-Induced Nanofaceting Transition at an Asymmetric Tilt Grain Boundary in Copper
Nicolas J Peter1, Timofey Frolov2, Maria J Duarte1
1Max-Planck Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH, 40237 Düsseldorf, Germany.
Abstract:
We show that chemistry can be used to trigger a nanofaceting transition. In particular, the segregation of Ag to an asymmetric tilt grain boundary in Cu is investigated. Aberration-corrected electron microscopy reveals that annealing the bicrystal results in the formation of nanometer-sized facets composed of preferentially Ag-segregated symmetric Σ5{210} segments and Ag-depleted {230}/{100} asymmetric segments. Our observations oppose an anticipated trend to form coarse facets. Atomistic simulations confirm the nanofacet formation observed in the experiment and demonstrate a concurrent grain boundary phase transition induced by the anisotropic segregation of Ag.
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