The structure of shock-loaded polycrystalline titanium diboride was examined using transmission electron microscopy. The shock wave from ballistic impact produced prismatic and basal slip in grains which were favorably oriented with respect to the shock wave. It could be deduced from annealing experiments, with the formation of stacking-fault hexagons, that there was a high concentration of point defects in deformed regions arising from the motion of dislocation jogs. Weak-beam microscopy revealed that the dislocations in TiB2 were dissociated into partial dislocations. The stacking fault energy deduced from a screw dislocation in the basal plane was 120mJ/m2. Widely dissociated dislocations in the shocked sample suggested that residual stresses were present in some regions.

Dislocations in Shock-Loaded Titanium Diboride. D.M.Vanderwalker, W.J.Croft: Journal of Materials Research, 1988, 3[4], 761-3