Dislocation distributions in deformed copper single crystals

Abstract

Dislocation etch pit distributions and slip lines were studied on copper single crystals oriented for single glide and deformed in tension at 4·2°K. Slip lines on the cross slip plane were observed from the earliest stages of deformation and their character changed during the transition to stage II. The distribution of forest dislocations is much more isotropic and less homogeneous than that of dislocations crossing other planes. The ratio of the forest to other dislocation densities in stage I is about 1:15 but tends to 1 in stage II. The flow stress correlates better with the forest than with main glide dislocation density; twist experiments support this conclusion.