Contact dislocation reactions

Examples of reactions between two attractive dislocations gliding in non-coplanar slip planes. In many, but not all, cases, a reaction is energetically favored when the two dislocations come in contact. Here, two segments pinned at their ends are placed very close to each other. No stress is applied and a junction zips until a stable equilibrium configuration of minimum energy is reached. An increasing stress is then applied and the junction unzips until the two dislocations are remobilized. Junction formation in multislip conditions is responsible for most of the recorded strain hardening in FCC metals.