The five-parameter grain boundary character distribution of nanocrystalline tungsten

Transmission electron microscopy has been used to collect high-resolution orientation maps from a tungsten thin film with a 100 nm average grain size. The orientation distribution of grain boundary planes at specific lattice misorientations is non-uniform and has characteristics similar to materials with larger grain sizes. A comparison of the populations of grain boundaries in tungsten with the same boundaries in a ferritic steel suggests that polycrystals with a body-centered cubic crystal structure have similar grain boundary character distributions.