HKIAS Distinguished Tutorial Series in Materials Science - Grain Boundary Structure and Dynamics: a tutorial

The most widely used engineering materials are polycrystalline (ensembles of crystallites of differing orientation). Grain boundaries (interfaces across which crystal orientation changes) are the pre-eminent defects in polycrystalline materials. While grain boundaries have been widely studied for nearly a century, our understanding of these important defects has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. In these lectures, I will attempt to synthesise thermodynamic, crystallographic, statistical mechanics and kinetic descriptions of grain boundary structure and behaviour. The goal of these tutorial lectures is the development of a predictive, coherent understanding of grain boundary structure, energetics, and motion from the atomistic to continuum scales.

Please note that the selection of topics in this tutorial is based on my personal interests and are not intended to be (1) a survey of grain boundary phenomena or (2) a review the breadth of interesting research within the field. Of particular importance is its omission of any discussion on alloying effects.

This series of tutorial lectures is designed for students who are new to the field of grain boundary/interface research, the non-specialist materials scientist seeking an update of recent developments, and specialists in the field interested in a holistic approach to the subject. The pre-requisites for this lecture are a rudimentary understanding of elasticity, statistical mechanics, crystallography, and crystal defect.

More information:
www.hkias.cityu.edu.hk/news/20 … dynamics-a-tutorial/

Provided by Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study