The equilibrium configurations of threefold composite dislocations, that included intrinsic-intrinsic or intrinsic-extrinsic stacking faults, were calculated within the framework of isotropic elastic theory. A comparison between theoretical predictions and experimental observations, of Lomer-Cottrell dislocations in an intermetallic alloy, suggested that some of the observed configurations were not at equilibrium. It was found that there was good agreement between isotropic and anisotropic linear elasticity with respect to predicting the geometrical features of the split threefold configurations. Only slight differences were found in the values of the fault energies. A comparison of theoretical predictions with previous high-resolution transmission electron microscopic observations indicated that some of the observed extended barriers were not in a state of minimum energy.

On the Equilibrium Configurations of Climb-Dissociated Lomer-Cottrell Dislocations. J.Bonneville, G.Vanderschaeve: Philosophical Magazine Letters, 1998, 78[2], 87-95