Fingering Instability of Dislocations and Related Line Defects

Journal Article · Mon Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1999 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.2306· OSTI ID:321985

Li, M; Smith, B B; Selinger, R L ^[1]; Li, M ^[2]

---

1. Physics Department, Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. 20064 (United States)
2. Center for Nonlinear Science, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (United States)

We identify a fundamental morphological instability of mobile dislocations in crystals and related line defects. A positive gradient in the local driving force along the direction of defect motion destabilizes long-wavelength vibrational modes, producing a {open_quotes}fingering{close_quotes} pattern. The minimum unstable wavelength scales as the inverse square root of the force gradient. We demonstrate the instability{close_quote}s onset in simulations of a screw dislocation in Al (via molecular dynamics) and of a vortex in a 3D XY {open_quotes}rotator{close_quotes} model. {copyright} {ital 1999} {ital The American Physical Society}

• OSTI ID: 321985
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 82, Issue 11; Other Information: PBD: Mar 1999
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
INSTABILITY
CRYSTAL DEFECTS
SCREW DISLOCATIONS
ALUMINIUM
MOLECULAR DYNAMICS METHOD
SIMULATION
MICROSTRUCTURE
DEFORMATION