Grain Boundary Migration in Alumina

The sintering process of ceramics involves grain-boundary migration (GBM) that is accompanied by mass transport across an interface. In this study, electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) has been used to examine grain-boundary migration in alumina bicrystals with liquid films at the interface. EBSD patterns, taken near the sintered interface, have been used to study the effects of crystallography on GBM and to study the orientation relationships within the migrated regions of the crystal. Results indicate that the direction of migration is not always the same as that predicted by the current theories on GBM. It was also found that there may be small-angle misorientations in the migrated regions.