From dislocation nucleation to dislocation multiplication in ceramic nanoparticle

Magnesium oxide nanocubes are compressed along the [001] direction in situ in the transmission electron microscope. Incipient plasticity in the smaller samples is characterized by the nucleation of few 1/2<110>{110} dislocations while a larger number of line defects is observed in larger nanocubes. Yield and flow stresses scattered stochastically above a minimum value varying as the inverse of the sample size. The upper bound is given by the reduced number of dislocation sources. Such size-dependent behaviour is justified by a detailed statistical analysis and is fully explained by the deformation mechanism.