The annihilation of two 60° shuffle dislocations was studied via the molecular dynamics method. The Stillinger-Weber potential and environment-dependent interatomic potential were used to describe the atomic interactions. The simulation results showed that the complete annihilation of the 60° dislocations takes place only when the two dislocations lie on the same slip plane. The annihilation process may occur without external shear stress when the temperature was higher than a critical value. It was found that the critical temperature increased exponentially as a function of distance between the two dislocations. Also revealed in this simulation was an incomplete annihilation occurring when the distance between the slip planes of the two dislocations was less than about 1nm. If the distance between the two slip planes was larger than about 1nm, the dislocations will glide on their own slip planes as if no interaction exists between them.

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Annihilation of 60° Dislocations in Si Crystals. Q.Meng, Q.Wang: Physica Status Solidi B, 2009, 246[2], 372-5