Weak-Beam Imaging of Coherent Twin Boundaries After High-Temperature Deformation
Weak beam dark field microscopy has been used extensively to study deformation induced intragranular defects in materials. However as noted by Tones et al weak beam imaging is also an asset in examining intergranular defects. The localisation of strain contrast close to the defect core by weak beam imaging allows the interaction of matrix dislocations with the boundary (to form extrinsic dislocations) to be studied more easily. Also, the reduction in extinction distance with weak beam microscopy produces a higher density of extinction contours, which allows topographical discontinuities associated with long range strain fields to be more readily observed.Thus in the present study, where we were interested in interfacial phenomena during high temperature deformation processing of a cobalt base alloy (Co-Cr-Mo), weak beam imaging was used to obtain a better understanding of the role of intergranular defects.