Formation of Annealing Twins During Grain Growth

Abstract

It is proposed that annealing twins form during grain growth as a result of a decrease in the interfacial free energy of grain boundaries that would not be achieved in the absence of twinning. Experiments designed to permit detection of the changes in grain boundary free energy accompanying the formation of twins give results in agreement with this concept. The abundance of twins found in annealed copper depends on the texture in a manner that is consistent with the theory.