Mechanisms and orientation of melt segregation paths during pure shearing of a partially molten rock analog (norcamphor–benzamide)

In-situ deformation experiments were performed on partially molten analog materials (norcamphor in the presence of a benzamide–norcamphor melt) undergoing pure shearing at a constant melt fraction of 0.13. Melt in the samples induces a strain-dependent transition from purely dislocation creep to dislocation creep associated with minor intergranular fracturing and grain boundary sliding (GBS). Intergranular fractures drain the melt from initially isotropic melt pockets to grain boundaries. Along such boundaries, grain-boundary migration recrystallization is inhibited, while GBS occurs. Intergranular melt pockets occur along grain boundaries oriented subparallel to the shortening direction, but melt must have migrated parallel to the elongation direction of the samples, as indicated by melt accumulations at both extruding ends of the sample. Intergranular melt pockets parallel to the elongation direction were only rarely observed, because melt was rapidly expelled from these sites. Nevertheless, these grain boundaries are the pathways of melt segregation in the samples.