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Experimental Measurement of Negative Grain-Boundary Triple Line Tension

Xiuming Xiao and Ziren Wang*

  • *Contact author: wziren@cqu.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 068201 – Published 9 February, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/t23n-bch4

Abstract

We measured negative grain-boundary triple line tension within bulk hard-sphere colloidal polycrystals. Compared to the grain boundaries, the tension is predominantly distributed in the grain lattices. The negative tension drives finite premelting at triple junctions and leads to a marginally denser lattice nearby.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 068201– Published 9 February, 2026
  • Received 21 July 2025
  • Accepted 15 January 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

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