Dynamics of dislocation interactions with stacking-fault tetrahedra at high temperature

The interaction process between dislocations and large stacking-fault tetrahedra was observed in real time at high temperature during deformation experiments in situ in the transmission electron microscope. Dislocation interactions with tetrahedra resulted in them being annihilated and converted to another defect type. Dislocation bypass of the tetrahedra occurred by cross-slip. The latter interaction occurred slowly and halted the progress of the dislocation. Annihilation versus bypass by dislocation cross-slip was dictated by the location at which the slip plane intersected the tetrahedron – on the face or along the edges with the stair-rod dislocations. In general, the interactions, at best, were weakly temperature dependent.