The plastic deformation of single crystals was studied via the direct simulation of dislocation dynamics under stress. The initial dislocation populations were designed to mimic the real dislocation microstructures which were observed in transmission electron microscopic cross-sections of pure annealed single crystals. No a priori sources of dislocation multiplication were introduced, but multiplication nevertheless took place via a sequence which involved the aggregation of grown-in super-jogs, the bowing-out of screw dislocation segments and the fast lateral motion of edge segments. This produced a large number of elongated loops, and a characteristic cross-grid of screw dislocations.

Dislocation Multiplication in BCC Molybdenum - a Dislocation Dynamics Simulation. M.Rhee, D.H.Lassila, V.V.Bulatov, L.Hsiung, T.Diaz de la Rubia: Philosophical Magazine Letters, 2001, 81[9], 595-605