Grain boundary influence on the mechanical behaviour of oriented bicrystals

It is shown through several experiments centred on dislocation transmission through a GB that relating macroscopic mechanical properties of a bicrystalline specimen to the atomic structure of the GB or to local dislocation reactions is not straightforward. Not only the long and short range stresses and the plastic properties of the two grains must be taken into consideration, but also the kinetics of events has to be taken into account to explain the final result.