The molecular dynamics method was used to simulate cross-slip by thermal activation at 30K and the intersection of dislocations in Cu containing 1.6 x 106 atoms using the embedded atom method potential. The results showed that an extended screw dislocation could recombine through thermal activation at 30K into a constriction on the surface because of stress imbalance and the constriction would split again in the other slip plane. Removing the constriction along the extended dislocation resulted in cross-slip of the screw dislocation at low temperatures. After the intersection between a moving right-hand screw dislocation DC and a perpendicular left-hand dislocation BA, whose ends were fixed on the surfaces, an extended jog corresponding to a row of one-third vacancies formed in BA and a trail of vacancies behind DC. If the intersected dislocation was a right-hand screw dislocation AB, the jog formed in AB corresponded to a row of one-third interstitials and the point defects behind DC were interstitials. After the intersection between screw and edge dislocations, the jog formed in the edge dislocation corresponded to a row of one-third vacancies and there were no point defects behind the screw dislocation.

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Cross-Slip and the Intersection of Dislocations in Copper. M.Li, W.Y.Chu, K.W.Gao, L.J.Qiao: Journal of Physics - Condensed Matter, 2003, 15[20], 3391-9