While propagation of dislocations in body centered cubic metals at low temperature is understood in terms of elementary steps on {110} planes, slip traces correspond often with other crystallographic or non-crystallographic planes. In the past, characterization of slip was limited to post-mortem electron microscopy and slip trace analysis on the sample surface. Here with in-situ Laue diffraction experiments during micro-compression we demonstrate that when two {110} planes containing the same slip direction experience the same resolved shear stress, sharp slip traces are observed on a {112} plane. When however the {110} planes are slightly differently stressed, macroscopic strain is measured on the individual planes and collective cross-slip is used to fulfill mechanical boundary conditions, resulting in a zig-zag or broad slip trace on the sample surface. We anticipate that such dynamics can occur in polycrystalline metals due to local inhomogeneous stress distributions and can cause unusual slip transfer among grains.
Low-temperature deformation of body-centered cubic metals shows a significant amount of plastic slip on planes with low shear stresses, a phenomenon called anomalous slip. Despite progress in atomistic modeling of the consequences of complex stress states on dislocation mobility, the phenomenon of anomalous slip remained elusive. Using in situ Laue microdiffraction and discrete dislocation dynamics in micrometer sized tungsten single crystals, we demonstrate the occurrence of significant anomalous slip. It occurs as a consequence of cross kinks, topological configurations generated by prior dislocation interactions. This clearly identifies anomalous slip as a multidislocation process and not a property of isolated dislocations. The cross-kink mechanism also explains the ambiguous reporting of anomalous slip traces in the past and directs us to ways of including anomalous slip in continuum crystal plasticity formulations.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.