A large sample population of grain-boundary geometries in annealed polycrystalline material was analyzed. The data included all 5 degrees of freedom (grain misorientation plus crystallographic orientation of the boundary plane). The most significant category of boundary which could give rise to so-called special properties comprised symmetrical and asymmetrical tilt boundaries in the  = 3 system. Taken together, these accounted for almost half of the sampled boundaries. It was found that certain plane combinations occurred with an above-average frequency, whereas those such as the (211) symmetrical tilt boundary were not observed at all. It was noted that the data were compatible with recent calculations of the energies of asymmetrical tilt boundaries. There was also some correlation between   = 3 boundaries and the inclination of the boundary relative to the specimen surface. This was explained in terms of grain-boundary area and connectivity.

V.Randle: Acta Crystallographica, 1994, A50[5], 588-95