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Updated: Sep 20, 2025

Atom Probe Tomography Studies on the CuIn,GaSe2 Grain Boundaries
Published on: April 22, 2013
Dual phase patterning during a congruent grain boundary phase transition in elemental copper
Lena Langenohl1, Tobias Brink2, Rodrigo Freitas3
1Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH, Max-Planck-Straße 1, 40237, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Abstract:
The phase behavior of grain boundaries can have a strong influence on interfacial properties. Little is known about the emergence of grain boundary phases in elemental metal systems and how they transform. Here, we observe the nanoscale patterning of a grain boundary by two alternating grain boundary phases with distinct atomic structures in elemental copper by atomic resolution imaging. The same grain boundary phases are found by computational grain boundary structure search indicating a first-order transformation. Finite temperature atomistic simulations reveal a congruent, diffusionless transition between these phases under ambient pressure. The patterning of the grain boundary at room temperature is dominated by the grain boundary phase junctions separating the phase segments. Our analysis suggests that the reduced mobility of the phase junctions at low temperatures kinetically limits the transformation, but repulsive elastic interactions between them and disconnections could additionally stabilize the pattern formation.
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