Elongated nanoscale voids at deformed special grain boundary structures in nanocrystalline materials Original Research Article

A special micromechanism for the formation of elongated nanoscale voids at grain boundaries (GBs) in deformed nanocrystalline materials is suggested and theoretically described. Within our description, the formation of nanoscale voids represents a slow (diffusion-controlled) process driven by release of the elastic energy of GB disclination configurations formed due to GB sliding. It is demonstrated that the nucleation of elongated nanoscale voids at GB disclination dipoles occurs as an energetically favorable process in deformed nanocrystalline Ni and Al2O3 (sapphire) in wide ranges of their parameters.