The improvement of materials properties through the control of grain boundary crystallography was proposed for many years. Nevertheless, this way of altering materials properties still remained far from being fully exploited. Potentially, there were many different form of altering grain boundary crystallography in a controlled manner. Among these, however, twinning was the only one to be effectively applied in the thermomechanical treatment of metals and alloys to achieve grain boundary engineering. Much speculation existed regarding the explanation of the mechanisms which controlled the nature of coincidence site lattices, and how such mechanisms could be exploited so as to increase the degree of coincidence.

Micromechanisms Involved in Grain Boundary Engineering of α-Brass. A.L.Pinto, C.S.daC.Viana, L.H.de Almeida: Materials Science and Engineering A, 2007, 445-446, 14-9