Anisotropic Behaviour of Grain Boundaries

Grain boundaries are decisive for many properties of materials. Due to short-range stress field their influence is primarily based on their atomic structure. Special character of grain boundary properties related to their structure, follows from the nature of atomic arrangements in the boundary cores, from the interfacial dislocation content and from the boundary mobility. All those aspects of boundary behaviour are strongly influenced by the boundary chemistry including various segregation phenomena. Approaches to the boundary classification and the interpretation of recent experimental results are discussed in the context of the complex relationship between microstructure and material properties. Such findings are essential for Grain Boundary Engineering proposed to improve the performance of polycrystalline materials.