Various <110> symmetrical tilt grain boundaries were investigated in several face-centered cubic metals by means of simulation and high-resolution electron microscopy. It was found that boundaries with tilt angles of between 50.5 and 109.5 dissociated into 2 boundaries which were 0.6 to 1.1nm apart. Such dissociation occurred via the emission of stacking faults from one boundary, and termination by Shockley partials at a second boundary. It was noted that this was a general mode of grain boundary relaxation for metals with a low stacking fault energy.

J.D.Rittner, D.N.Seidman, K.L.Merkle: Physical Review B, 1996, 53[8], R4241-4