Crack Propagation Method for Measuring Grain Boundary Energies in Brittle Materials

Abstract

A cleavage technique was used to measure the surface free energy and the grain boundary energy for twist boundaries of varying twist angles in potassium chloride. The results for the surface energy and its temperature dependence are in good agreement with theory and experiment. Based in part on this agreement and the measured misfit orientation dependence, the grain boundary energy values obtained are concluded to be reasonable.