# Grain boundaries weaken in planetary interiors, research suggests

**URL:** <https://community.materialssquare.com/t/grain-boundaries-weaken-in-planetary-interiors-research-suggests/495>\
**Category:** News\
**Created:** [July 18, 2024, 2:02pm UTC](https://community.materialssquare.com/t/grain-boundaries-weaken-in-planetary-interiors-research-suggests/495 "2024-07-18T14:02:17Z")\
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**Author:** ![gabriele1](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex003/user_avatar/community.materialssquare.com/gabriele1/32/20_2.png) [@gabriele1](https://community.materialssquare.com/u/gabriele1)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 2:02pm UTC](https://community.materialssquare.com/t/grain-boundaries-weaken-in-planetary-interiors-research-suggests/495/1 "2024-07-18T14:02:17Z")

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Researchers from Ehime University have discovered that grain boundaries in planetary interiors, such as Earth’s mantle, can weaken under extreme pressures. Using quantum mechanical simulations, they found that the behavior of grain boundaries in ferropericlase, a major mantle mineral, changes with depth, causing mechanical weakening. This weakening, contrary to expectations, is due to structural transformations induced by pressure. These findings are crucial for understanding mantle convection and plate tectonics in Earth-like planets and could impact our knowledge of super-Earth exoplanets.

For more details, read the full article here:

> **[Grain boundaries weaken in planetary interiors, research suggests](https://phys.org/news/2024-07-grain-boundaries-weaken-planetary-interiors.html)**
>
> Mantle convection and associated plate tectonics of planets like the Earth are governed by the deformation of mantle rocks. This deformation occurs through the motion of defects in the crystal lattices of minerals. Thus, the physical properties of...