It was recalled that it was commonly believed that dislocations could not exceed the sound barrier at the shear wave velocity. However, molecular dynamics simulations here suggested that a stationary dislocation could be accelerated to above the sound barrier; provided that the theoretical shear strength was reached at the dislocation core and that the total energy of a subsonic perfect dislocation was sufficiently high to cause its dissociation into transonic partial dislocations.

Dislocation Jumping over the Sound Barrier in Tungsten. Q.Li, S.Q.Shi: Applied Physics Letters, 2002, 80[17], 3069-71