Anisotropy Behavior of Dislocation Nucleation from a Sharp Corner in Copper

By means of reaction pathway analysis, we have investigated the nucleation of 90° and 30° partial dislocation from a sharp corner in an f.c.c. crystal copper. The anisotropy aspects of dislocation nucleation revealed by the results have shown that the stress-dependent activation energy of 30° partial dislocation is approximately twice over the counterpart of 90° partial dislocation, and that the maximum inelastic displacement for the former is also higher. Moreover, the shape of the saddle-point configuration of 30° partial dislocation is similar to a half-ellipse whereas in the case of 90° partial dislocation it is more like a semi-circle, reflecting the different Peierls barriers influenced by the Burgers vectors. Further study of the surface reconstruction demonstrates that although the nucleation of 30° partial dislocation has been enhanced by surface reduction, it is still more energy-unfavorable than the 90° partial dislocation. These results suggest that the higher Peierls barrier is responsible for the larger activation energy of 30° partial dislocation nucleation.