The structure and composition of low angle grain boundaries produced in sapphire by a liquid phase sintering process were investigated by conventional and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (CTEM and HRTEM, respectively). Considering the current emphasis on producing ceramics with textured microstructures for various applications, the question of grain boundary wetting vs. dewetting has become a relevant issue to determining the microstructure development and the properties of these liquid phase sintered materials. Accordingly, the present study was designed to cover a wide range of tilt misorientations, twist misorientations, and boundary orientations.

The boundaries were formed by the directed growth of two sapphire plates, both having nominal <0001>, , or surface orientations through an alumina tape-cast containing an anorthite composition glass phase. After an initial hot-pressing stage, followed by an anneal at 1600° C for 200 hours, the samples typically contained a single boundary delineated by isolated pockets of entrapped glass, Fig. 1.