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TEM Analysis of an Alumina Bicrystal Section Using a Fib

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

Jeffrey K. Fairer
Affiliation:
Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, 421 Washington Ave. S.E., Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA
N. Ravishankar
Affiliation:
Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, 421 Washington Ave. S.E., Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA
Joseph R. Michael
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratory, Albuquerque, NM, 87185-1405
C. Barry Carter
Affiliation:
Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, 421 Washington Ave. S.E., Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA
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Abstract

Grain boundary migration (GBM) during the sintering and densification of a polycrystalline ceramic material occurs as a result of mass transport across an interface. When there is a liquid film present, either due to additives used for liquid-phase sintering or unavoidable impurities in the material, the mass transport can be visualized in terms of dissolving material from one grain and precipitating it on another. in order to study the effects of crystallography on GBM in the presence of a liquid phase, alumina bicrystals have been fabricated with anorthite (CaA12Si208) glass films at the interface. The alumina-anorthite system in a bicrystal geometry is used because the pseudo-binary phase diagram of the system is well known, the bicrystal geometry allows for control over the original interface misorientation, and the glassy phase of anorthite is the most commonly occurring glass in commercially used alumina.

Fig. 1 is a secondary-electron SEM image of an alumina bicrystal recorded using a field-emission SEM (Hitachi S900) operating at 5 kV.

Type
Applications of Microscopy: Surfaces/Interfaces
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2001

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References

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5. This research was supported by U.S. D.O.E. (Grant No. DE-FG02-92ER45465). The authors would like to acknowledge Prof. Stan Erlandsen for access to the FESEM and Chris Frethem for technical assistance. JRM was supported by the United States Department of Energy under contract DE-AC04-94AL8500 Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by the Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin company, for the United States Department of Energy.Google Scholar