Micromechanisms involved in grain boundary engineering of α-brass

The improvement of materials properties through the control of grain boundary crystallography has been proposed for many years. Nevertheless, this way of altering materials properties still remains far from being fully exploited. Potentially, there are many different form of altering grain boundary crystallography in a controlled manner. Among these, however, twinning if the only one to have been effectively applied in the thermomechanical treatment of metals and alloys to achieve grain boundary engineering. Much speculation exists regarding explanations of the actual mechanisms which control the nature of the CSL's, and how such mechanisms can be manipulated to increase the degree of coincidence. This work is aimed not only at the pursuit of innovative ways of increasing the twinning phenomenon but also at the enrichment of the discussion about the mechanisms involved in grain boundary engineering. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.