The results were presented of atomistic computer simulations of self-diffusion along a screw dislocation in Al. Using molecular dynamics simulations with an embedded-atom potential, dislocation diffusion coefficients were obtained in the presence of vacancies, self-interstitials, as well as without any point defects over a range of temperatures. Even in the absence of point defects, the dislocation core exhibited high diffusivity. The exact atomic mechanism of this intrinsic diffusion was not currently known but was likely related to thermal displacements of the dislocation line occurring by the formation and spreading of double jogs. Equilibrium vacancies gave a smaller contribution to the diffusion rate in comparison with the intrinsic mechanism, while the contribution of interstitials was negligible.

A Molecular Dynamics Study of Self-Diffusion in the Core of a Screw Dislocation in Al. Pun, G.P.P., Mishin, Y.: Defect and Diffusion Forum, 2007, 266, 49-62