It was recalled that the high number density of stacking-fault tetrahedra which were observed in irradiated face-centered cubic metals suggested that they should contribute to radiation-induced hardening. The central problem was the description of the individual interactions between moving dislocations and stacking fault tetrahedra, which was characterized by its very fine scale of about 100nm. This scale was accessible by in situ transmission electron microscopy, and large-scale atomic modelling. The results of the atomistic simulation of dislocation and stacking-fault tetrahedra interaction, using molecular dynamics, were presented here. The results were compared with observations made using in situ deformation experiments. It was demonstrated that, in some cases, the simulations and experimental observations were quite similar.

Dislocation–Stacking Fault Tetrahedron Interaction - What can we Learn from Atomic-Scale Modelling. Y.N.Osetsky, R.E.Stoller, Y.Matsukawa: Journal of Nuclear Materials, 2004, 329-333[2], 1228-32