Atomic-scale details of interaction of a 1/3<11▪0>{11▪0} edge dislocation with clusters of self-interstitial atoms in α-Zr was studied by computer simulation. Four typical clusters were considered. A triangular cluster of 5 self-interstitial atoms lying within a basal plane bisected by the dislocation glide plane was not absorbed by the dislocation but acted as a moderately strong obstacle. A 3D self-interstitial atom cluster lying across the glide plane was completely absorbed by the dislocation via the creation of super-jogs, and was a weak obstacle. Interaction of the dislocation with glissile self-interstitial atom loops with perfect Burgers vector inclined at 60° to the dislocation glide plane showed that the process depended upon the vector orientation. Defects having the 2 orientations were strong obstacles. One of them, which initially formed a sessile segment on the dislocation line, was particularly strong.

Self-Interstitial Atom Clusters as Obstacles to Glide of 1/3<11▪0>{11▪0} Edge Dislocations in α-Zirconium. R.E.Voskoboynikov, Y.N.Osetsky, D.J.Bacon: Materials Science and Engineering A, 2005, 400-401, 54-8