An elasto-chemical theory of tilt boundaries
The grain boundary energy of a crystalline solid near the melting point is calculated using a model of an infinite array of interacting dislocations. The complete elastic interaction among dislocations is included via a traction-free core condition. The elastic energy is coupled to the chemical energy of the core by an energy minimization scheme involving the core radius. The present theory is compared with experiment, uncovering rather stringent requirements which grain boundary data must meet for a meaningful theoretical analysis.