Stress-induced grain boundary migration was described theoretically as a new mode of rotational plastic deformation in nanocrystalline materials. The strain-energy change due to migration of a grain boundary that carried rotational plastic flow was calculated. It was shown that, depending upon the stress level, the grain boundary could be either immobile or mobile. In the latter case, it could migrate in either a stable or unstable regime. The critical stress values which corresponded to transitions between these migration regimes were estimated.

Grain Boundary Migration as Rotational Deformation Mode in Nanocrystalline Materials. M.Y.Gutkin, I.A.Ovidko: Applied Physics Letters, 2005, 87[25], 251916 (3pp)