CONNECTIVITY IN RANDOM GRAIN BOUNDARY NETWORKS

摘要

Mechanical properties of FCC metals and alloys can be improved by exercising control over the population of grain boundary types in the microstructure. The existing studies also suggest that such properties tend to have percolative mechanisms that depend on the topology of the grain boundary network. With the emergence of SEM-based automated electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), statistically significant datasets of interface crystallography can be analyzed in a routine manner, giving new insight into the topology and percolative properties of grain boundary networks. In this work, we review advanced analysis techniques for EBSD datasets to quantify microstructures in terms of grain boundary character and triple junction distributions, as well as detailed percolation-theory based cluster analysis.