Facet-defacet transition of grain boundaries in alumina

Abstract

Grain boundaries in pure alumina powder compacts sintered at 1400degreesC are smoothly curved, indicating that they have atomically rough structures. When these specimens are heat-treated at temperatures between 900degrees and 1100degreesC, a small fraction of the grain boundaries develop either hill-and-valley or kinked shapes with flat segments. Some of these flat boundary segments lie on the {0112} plane of one of the grain pairs. These grain boundaries thus appear to become singular at these temperatures. When a corundum crystal with a basal surface is sintered in alumina powder at 1400degreesC, all grain boundaries formed between the corundum basal surface and small grains, as well as those between the small grains, are smoothly curved, indicating their rough structure. When heat-treated at 900degreesC for 3 days, about 30% of the grain boundaries between the corundum basal surface and the small grains develop kinks with flat boundary segments, and some of these flat segments lie on the basal plane of the corundum. When heat-treated again at 1400degreesC, all grain boundaries are curved, indicating that they become reversibly rough. These observations show that at least some of the grain boundaries in alumina undergo roughening-singular transitions at temperatures between 900degrees and 1100degreesC.