It was recalled that disclinations at the triple junctions of grain boundaries in such materials were expected to split into 3-dimensional ensembles of disclinations of lower power. This would decrease the elastic energy of the system, and was expected to be accompanied by local amorphization near to the junctions. In the general case, linear splitting was also thought to be possible in polycrystals and nanocrystals. That is, the splitting of an initial disclination, in a grain boundary, into a series of disclinations of lower power which lay along the grain boundary. The main object of the present work was to analyze the energetics of the linear splitting of disclinations. A study was therefore made of the linear splitting of an initial wedge disclination into disclinations which were arranged in a row along the grain boundary.

M.J.Gutkin, K.N.Mikaelyan, I.A.Ovidko: Fizika Tverdogo Tela, 1995, 37[2], 552-4 (Physics of the Solid State, 1995, 37[2], 300-1)