The mechanical behavior of metallic nanowires was intensively studied, demonstrating the strong sample-size dependence of crystal plasticity. However, the effect of surface energy had not yet been fully resolved. In situ high-resolution transmission electron microscopy of gold nanometer-sized protrusions at room temperature was used here to address this problem. The experimental results revealed that the slip of Shockley partial dislocations reduces the energy cost of creating the extra surface area resulting from the dislocation slip (i.e. surface steps).

Signature of Surface Energy Dependence of Partial Dislocation Slip in a Gold Nanometer-Sized Protrusion. S.B.Lee, Y.M.Kim: Scripta Materialia, 2011, 64[12], 1125-8