The dislocation microstructure of strontium titanate plastically deformed below room temperature showed dipolar configurations of a<110> screw dislocations. The dipole height was so small that dipole annihilation was expected. Here it was shown why this was inhibited. By high-resolution transmission electron microscopy observations it was found that in such dipoles each dislocation was dissociated into two collinear a/2<110> partials on a {110} plane. Elasticity theory calculations provided a stacking-fault energy value of 340mJ/m2. The effects of this dissociation process upon the mechanical behaviour were considered.

Dislocation Dissociation and Stacking-Fault Energy Calculation in Strontium Titanate. M.Castillo-Rodríguez, W.Sigle: Scripta Materialia, 2010, 62[5], 270-3