Rotation of micrometer-sized grains in cyclically loaded thin gold films at room temperature

Room temperature grain rotation in polymer-supported gold films subjected to cyclic tensile loading is directly demonstrated by quasi-in-situ electron backscatter diffraction analysis. Grain rotation is activated after saturation of grain coarsening. Rotating grains try to align themselves with their (1 0 0) direction parallel to the axis of applied mechanical strain which corresponds to the lowest elastic modulus.