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Investigating Atomic Scale Structure-property Relationships at Grain Boundaries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

N. D. Browning
Affiliation:
Dept. Physics (M/C 273), U. Illinois-Chicago, 845 W. Taylor St., Chicago, IL60607-7059. USA
H. O. Moltaji
Affiliation:
Dept. Physics (M/C 273), U. Illinois-Chicago, 845 W. Taylor St., Chicago, IL60607-7059. USA
E. M. James
Affiliation:
Dept. Physics (M/C 273), U. Illinois-Chicago, 845 W. Taylor St., Chicago, IL60607-7059. USA
S. Stemmer
Affiliation:
Dept. Physics (M/C 273), U. Illinois-Chicago, 845 W. Taylor St., Chicago, IL60607-7059. USA
J. P. Buban
Affiliation:
Dept. Physics (M/C 273), U. Illinois-Chicago, 845 W. Taylor St., Chicago, IL60607-7059. USA
J. Zaborac
Affiliation:
Dept. Physics (M/C 273), U. Illinois-Chicago, 845 W. Taylor St., Chicago, IL60607-7059. USA
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Extract

Although grain boundaries are known to dominate the bulk properties of many technologically important materials, in most cases there is no fundamental atomic scale understanding of why they should have such an effect. One of the problems in developing this understanding is that conventional structure determination techniques, such as phase contrast imaging in TEM or Z-contrast imaging in STEM, produce only a 2-dimensional projection of the crystal structure. Atomic scale compositional changes must be simulated and a unique interpretation is clouded by boundary reconstructions and strain effects. Furthermore, neither technique provides any information on the local changes in the electronic structure that are critical for both the electrical and mechanical properties of the boundary.

EELS provides a means to quantify local changes in both composition and electronic structure. However, without a knowledge of the structure, interpretation of any observed changes at grain boundaries is extremely difficult.

Type
Spatially-Resolved Characterization of Interfaces in Materials
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America

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References

1.Browning, N. D., Chisholm, M. F. and Pennycook, S. J., Nature 366,143 (1993)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Rehr, J. J., Albers, R. C. and Zabinsky, S. I., Phys. Rev. Letts 69, 3397 (1992)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3. This research is sponsored by the U.S. DOE under grant number DE-GF02-96ER45Google Scholar