Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
The behaviour of Fresnel fringes with focus has been investigated as a means of characterising grain boundaries in engineering ceramics. This technique, together with dark-field imaging, has been applied to the study of grain boundaries in two hot-pressed silicon carbides. It is demonstrated that these two techniques, applied together, provide the best means of obtaining a complete characterisation of grain boundary films, in terms of width, structure, and composition.