Slip markings produced on the surfaces of Ni3(Al,Ta) single crystals, plastically deformed at various temperatures in the flow stress anomaly domain, were examined by atomic force microscopy. A dominant feature was that for all investigated temperatures, the slip traces were rectilinear and correspond to the primary octahedral glide plane. In addition, their lengths drastically decreased when the temperature was raised. This latter result was interpreted as a strong increase of the exhaustion rate of mobile dislocations with increasing temperatures. The consequences of these results in the understanding of Ni3Al flow stress anomaly were discussed.

Experimental Study of Ni3Al Slip Traces by Atomic Force Microscopy - Evidence of Mobile Dislocation Exhaustion. Fikar, J., Coupeau, C., Kruml, T., Bonneville, J.: Materials Science and Engineering A, 2004, 387-389, 926-30