Roughness of boundary interfaces in polycrystals and its influence on the yield strength of nanocrystalline materials

The distribution in roughness of grain-boundary interfaces in polycrystals is measured metallographically. The result shows that there are high populations of localized interface areas with roughness much lower than the average in polycrystals. Effects of the roughness on the boundary sliding in nanocrystalline materials are discussed, suggesting that the sliding in the localized interface areas produces stress concentrations to cause a reduction in the yield strength of nanocrystalline materials.