Bicrystal growth and characterization of copper twist grain boundaries

Copper bicrystals with twist character were grown using the vertical Bridgm an technique. Cu bicrystals were grown such that the grain boundary in each sample had a nominal twist misorientation consisting of either a low angle (10 degrees), a special angle (Sigma5 = 36.87 degrees), or a high angle (4 5 degrees). The grain boundary plane in all cases was (1 0 0). The grain bo undaries were grown using single-crystal seeds that were oriented to within +/-0.5 using the Laue buck-reflection X-ray diffraction method. The misori entation of each twist boundary was characterized using electron backscatte ring diffraction patterns in a scanning electron microscope. All grain boun dary misorientations were determined to be within the limits defined by the Brandon criterion. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.