The effect of grain boundaries on the electrical resistivity of polycrystalline copper and aluminium

Abstract Abstract The contribution to the electrical resistivity caused by grain boundaries has been measured in polycrystalline specimens of high purity copper and various grades of high purity aluminium. The specific grain boundary resistivity appeared to be independent of the impurity content, depended to a small extent on the temperature in the range 4·2 to 77°K, and at 4·2°K had the values (3·12 ± 0·18) × 10−12 ohm cm2 for copper and (2·45 ± 0·09) × 10−12 ohm cm2 for aluminium.