Phys.org February 8, 2023 Single crystalline materials have the potential to exhibit superior performance because they exclude grain boundaries, which increase susceptibility to creep, oxidation, and corrosion, and make thermal and electronic transport inefficient. However, single crystal properties vary significantly with crystallographic orientation, making the ability to control the orientation critical for their use in applications. The complex nature of crystal nucleation and growth processes makes such control challenging. A team of researchers in the US (Texas A&M University, University of Virginia, Argonne National Laboratory) has developed a new crystal reorientation mechanism that results in abrupt and massive orientation changes […]