Variables (order parameters) that were related to plastic deformation sites and complement the local densities of grain-boundary defects were separated out in a bicrystal being deformed under creep. By solving an evolutionary equation for the order parameters, it was shown that the non-uniformity and periodicity of spontaneous grain-boundary slippage in bicrystals and an increase in the grain-boundary strain rate under the conditions of boundary-lattice dislocation interaction may be attributed to the occurrence of local non-equilibrium regions (autosolitons).

Nonequilibrium State of Grain Boundaries and Spontaneous Grain-Boundary Slippage in Bicrystals. Y.A.Khon, Y.R.Kolobov, M.B.Ivanov, A.V.Butenko: Technical Physics, 2008, 53[3], 328-33