Abnormal grain growth in undoped strontium and barium titanate

Abnormal grain growth is a commonly observed phenomenon in perovskite materials. In order to study this phenomenon, grain growth experiments were conducted over a temperature range from 1425 to 1600 °C for the model system SrTiO3 to analyse the nucleation of abnormal grains and to identify the growth mechanism involved for normal and abnormal grains. Grain boundaries of normal and abnormal grains were investigated in quenched samples by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and by energy-dispersive spectroscopy in a scanning transmission electron microscope. No amorphous film was observed at the grain boundaries for either normal or abnormal grains. Non-stoichiometry at the grain boundaries was identified as a possible reason for the differences in growth speed. The results are compared to the nucleation and growth of abnormal grains in BaTiO3.