A scanning force microscopy study of grain boundary energy in copper subjected to equal channel angular pressing

Abstract We employed a scanning force microscopy technique to determine the ratio of grain boundary and surface energies in copper using the thermal grooving method. Samples of ultrafine grain copper obtained by four passes of equal channel angular pressing were heat treated in a reducing atmosphere at 400 °C for 15 min and at 800 °C for 2 h. The average dihedral angles of the grain boundary grooves after the former and the latter heat treatments were 152.4 ± 6.3° and 164.2 ± 4.3°, respectively, which can be translated into the difference by a factor of 1.8 in average grain boundary energies. This difference implies that the grain boundaries in ultrafine grain copper produced by equal channel angular pressing are in a state of high non-equilibrium that cannot be fully relaxed after a short annealing at 400 °C, but that undergoes significant relaxation after annealing at 800 °C.