Molecular dynamics simulation results of the interaction between a mixed dislocation and a stacking fault tetrahedron in face-centered cubic copper were presented. The interaction resulted in shearing, partial absorption, destabilization or simple by-passing of the stacking fault tetrahedron; depending upon the interaction geometry. However, the stacking fault tetrahedron was not completely annihilated, absorbed or collapsed during a single interaction with a mixed dislocation. These observations, combined with simulation results of edge or screw dislocations, suggested that defect-free channel formation in irradiated copper was not likely via a single dislocation sweeping or destruction process, but rather via a complex mixture of multiple shearing, partial absorption and defect-cluster transportation that ultimately reduced the size of stacking fault tetrahedra within a localized region.

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of the Interaction between a Mixed Dislocation and a Stacking Fault Tetrahedron. H.J.Lee, B.D.Wirth: Philosophical Magazine, 2009, 89[9], 821-41