Abstract
Faceting experiments have been performed to study the kinetic aspects of the faceting transformation in Sigma 3 bicrystals of Cu. Two bicrystals were prepared by diffusion bonding of oriented single crystalline slices in high vacuum (pressure p < 10 exp -5 Pa) for 15 h at 1313K. The facets that had developed at the initially planar grain boundaries were then geometrically analyzed in the light microscope after annealing for different times at 1313K under an Ar-20%H sub 2 atmosphere (p=4x10 exp 4 Pa) in order to investigate the faceting mechanism. It was found that the faceting reaction occurred via a nucleation and growth process.