On the absorption of dislocations by grain boundaries

A lattice dislocation may lower its elastic energy by dissociation in a high angle grain boundary. The absorption process involves the separation of the product grain boundary dislocations at a rate limited in general by climb and their interaction with any pre-existing network. This description of the absorption process is extended to random boundaries with the help of a new model for their structure in which the existence of an irregular arrangement of certain low energy groups of atoms is postulated. Experimental results are analysed in support of the model for the absorption process.