The reaction of grain boundaries to mechanical stress was reviewed. It was found that motion of low-angle and high-angle grain boundaries could induced by an imposed external stress. The observed activation enthalpies for the stress-induced grain-boundary motion permitted conclusions to be drawn concerning the migration mechanism. The motion of low-angle and high-angle planar grain boundaries, under the influence of a mechanical stress field, could be attributed to movement of the grain-boundary dislocations which constituted the structure of the boundary. A sharp transition between low-angle and high-angle boundaries was observed for various tilt axes.

Influencing Grain Boundary Properties by the Application of Mechanical Stress Fields. M.Winning: Physica Status Solidi A, 2004, 201[13], 2867-79