Deformation of crystal surfaces in ferroelastic materials caused by antiphase domain boundaries

The internal stresses occurring around domain walls can cause deformation of the crystal surface. The surface distortions have been calculated for the case of antiphase boundaries in tetragonal crystals. In KSCN a bump-shaped deformation of the surface occurs, with a height less than 1 Å. This effect is much smaller in but, besides a bump, a valley can also appear depending on the orientation of the antiphase boundary. The antiphase boundaries, the observation of which is difficult, could be revealed by such deformations of the crystal surface.