Transition between low and high angle grain boundaries

The migration of planar, symmetric tilt grain boundaries with different tilt axes was investigated. The driving force for the grain boundary migration was due to an external mechanical stress field. Low as well as high angle grain boundaries can move under this driving force and the activation parameters for the stress induced grain boundary motion are different for low and high angle grain boundaries. The experiments showed a sharp transition from low angle grain boundary to high angle grain boundary behavior. The transition is marked by a clear change in the activation enthalpy for the grain boundary motion without any extended range. We present an overview of the existing experimental results and theoretical considerations of the structure of grain boundaries at the transition. The observation that the transition depends on the rotation axis of the grain boundary and on the grain boundary plane is particularly important, because this will influence the Brandon criterion which is often used in experiments and simulations of grain growth and recrystallization processes.