Sub-micron samples with 42000 finite elements containing up to 86 million atoms were simulated using a concurrent atomistic-continuum method. The simulations reproduced not only nucleation and growth of semicircular dislocation loops in Cu and Al, but also hexagonal shuffle dislocation loops in Si, with the loop radius approaching 75nm. Details of leading and trailing partial dislocations connected by intrinsic stacking faults, dislocation loop coalescence through annihilation, and formation of junctions were reproduced.

Nucleation and Growth of Dislocation Loops in Cu, Al and Si by a Concurrent Atomistic-Continuum Method. L.Xiong, D.L.McDowell, Y.Chen: Scripta Materialia, 2012, 67[7-8], 633-6