The core structures of dislocations were considered. It was noted that, whereas atomic simulations which relied upon empirical potentials were not very reliable, the generalized Peierls model - using ab initio misfit energy values from electron density functional theory - was able to give accurate results, when appropriate methods were used and certain basic conditions on the calculations were satisfied. It was shown that discrepancies in published results arose from inappropriate choices of trial functions in the variational problem for the dislocation energy, and from incorrect treatments. Due to its inherent weaknesses, the Peierls model could give only order-of-magnitude values for the Peierls energy.

The Core Structure of Dislocations in Al - a Critical Assessment. G.Schoeck: Materials Science and Engineering A, 2002, 333[1-2], 390-6