A transmission electron microscopic study was made of the antiphase domains which formed when heavily rolled material was annealed at temperatures which were slightly below the critical temperature for ordering. Domains with an extremely small size formed at the advancing grain boundary, and grew during recrystallization. In the early stages, the domain walls exhibited a preference for {100} orientations. Diffraction experiments (1nm probe) using a scanning transmission electron microscope were carried out on a grain boundary that was 8.5 off the  = 3 coincident site lattice orientation. The results showed that the superlattice reflection near to the boundary was markedly weaker than that away from it; thus suggesting the existence of an atomically disordered grain boundary zone that was 1 to 2nm thick. A theory was proposed, for the nucleation and growth of domains during recrystallization, which took account of the dragging pressure that newly formed domains exerted upon a moving grain boundary and thus decreased the effective driving pressure for grain-boundary motion. A critical domain size was estimated which was expected to inhibit grain boundary motion completely.

R.Yang, G.A.Botton, R.W.Cahn: Acta Materialia, 1996, 44[9], 3869-80