Slip planes and the energy of dislocations

Abstract

It is shown that the characteristic slip directions and planes in metal crystals can be explained and predicted by taking into account the dependence of the energy of a dislocation on its plane. The energy of a dislocation is considered as a function of the parameter β, which is defined as the ratio of the Burgers vector to the interplanar spacing, and it is shown that the observed slip systems correspond to the lowest possible values of β in all the crystal types that have been studied. The reason for the existence of alternative slip systems, particularly at high temperatures, is also discussed in terms of this concept.