Considerations on the Interactions Between Thermal Vacancies and Dislocations

Recently a study was made of the behavior of thin aluminum foils containing quenched-in dislocation loops while being strained in the electron microscope. In an effort to determine what influence, if any, specimen size has on the previously observed phenomena, quenched aluminum was deformed approximately 2% before thinning it into electron-transparent foils. The result was that, instead of the smooth dislocation lines, intricate tangles of kinked and branching dislocations with interspersed loops were found, whereby the loop density seemed to be somewhat smaller than in the asquenched specimens. (W.D.M.)