Phenomenology of shear-coupled grain boundary motion in symmetric tilt and general grain boundaries

Abstract Shear-coupled grain boundary motion is examined for a large number of grain boundaries including 73 〈1 0 0〉, 〈1 1 0〉 and 〈1 1 1〉 symmetric tilt boundaries. In the present work, the grain boundary motion is induced by a synthetic driving force as opposed to prior studies of shear coupling induced by applied shear. For those boundaries that are observed to undergo shear-coupled motion, the results based on the two driving forces agree well, both for experiments and simulations. This agreement also confirms the generality of the shear coupling mechanism over numerous boundaries and boundary types. The examination of boundary structure provides insight into the different trends that are observed. Shear coupling according to modes not predicted by the Frank–Bilby equation are also demonstrated. The temperature dependence of shear coupling is examined, and is consistent with prior work for symmetric tilt boundaries. While prior studies have emphasized symmetric tilt boundaries, some general grain boundaries exhibit shear coupling as well. In these boundaries, it is found that the shear coupling is either temperature independent, decreases in magnitude with increasing temperature or, in some cases, changes direction with temperature.