Shape change and Peierls barrier of dislocation

Abstract

Shape change and Peierls barrier of dislocation are investigated theoretically in the framework of the improved Peierls-Nabarro model in which the lattice discreteness is considered fully. We found that the dislocation will become narrow as it moves from the energy valley to the barrier top. An expression for the Peierls barrier is proposed based on our calculations without the rigid translation assumption. The results enable us to relate the Peierls stress to the bulk properties of crystals directly and can be easily used in the evaluation of material plasticity.