Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol.83, No.4, 915-918, 2000
Effect of electric field on the migration of grain boundaries in alumina
The effect of an external electric field on the grain-boundary migration in Al2O3 ceramics has been investigated. The boundary migration is dependent on the direction and magnitude of the applied bias, and the observed boundary migration behavior is attributed to the presence of an electrostatic potential that inherently forms at the grain boundaries of Al2O3 ceramics. The results give experimental evidence that the boundary phenomena in oxide ceramics are related to the grain-boundary potential.