A new structure and spacing-versus-angle relationship for a prevalent type of small-angle grain boundary was discovered in Cu3Ba2YO7-coated conductor films. Small-angle [001] tilt grain boundaries, with (110) planes, exhibited partial grain boundary dislocations which were separated by stacking faults. The dissociated grain-boundary structures had twice the number of grain boundary dislocations and shorter inter-dislocation core channel widths than were predicted by Frank’s geometrical rule. It was suggested that a significant alteration of models for supercurrent flow through arrays of small-angle grain boundaries in Cu3Ba2YO7-coated conductors was required. A careful analysis of the stacking-fault energy was based upon anisotropic elasticity.

Dissociation of Grain Boundary Dislocations in YBa2Cu3O7 Coated Conductors. H.Kung, J.P.Hirth, S.R.Foltyn, P.N.Arendt, Q.X.Jia, M.P.Maley: Philosophical Magazine Letters, 2001, 81[1], 85-93