GRAIN ASSEMBLAGE IN POLYCRYSTALS

This overview describes an emerging new approach to the study of grain boundary crystallography and properties in polycrystals, namely studi es of the connectivity network of grain boundaries and grain boundary junctions in a system, which has been called 'grain assemblage'. The o rientation of individual elements in the network and more particularly their distribution control the overall interfacially-related properti es of the system. Several key elements are identified as being importa nt aspects of grain assemblage in polycrystals. These are the true ori entation of grain-to-grain surfaces, interactions between individual g rain boundaries and the crystallography of grain boundary junctions. T hese topics are discussed in detail, in addition to a description of t he established framework for grain boundary investigations.