Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the amorphous band nucleation and growth ahead of the tip of a shuffle 60° dislocation pileup at different grain boundaries (GBs) in diamond-cubic (dc) silicon (Si) bicrystal under shear are performed. Amorphization initiates when the local resolved shear stress reaches approximately the same value required for amorphization in a perfect single crystal (8.6-9.3GPa) for the same amorphization plane. Since the local stresses at the tip of a dislocation pileup increase when the number of dislocations in the pileup is increased, the critical applied shear stress τap for the formation of an amorphous shear band significantly decreases with the dislocation accumulation at the GBs. In particular, when the number of the dislocations in a pileup increases from 3 to 8, the critical shear stress drops from 4.7GPa to 1.6GPa for both the Σ9 and Σ19 GBs and from 4.6GPa to 2.1GPa for the Σ3 GB, respectively. After the formation of steps and disordered embryos at the GBs, the atomistic mechanisms responsible for the subsequent amorphous shear band formations near different GBs are found to distinct from each other. For a high-angle GB, such as Σ3, an amorphous band propagates through the crystalline phase along the (112) plane. For the Σ9 GB, partial dislocations forming a stacking fault precede the formation of an amorphous band along the (110) plane. For the Σ19 GB, the one-layer stacking fault along the (111) plane transforms into an interesting intermediate phase: a two-layer band with the atomic bonds being aligned along the (111) plane (i.e., rotated by 30o with respect to the atomic bonds outside the band). This intermediate phase transforms to the amorphous band along the (111) plane under a further shearing. The obtained results represent an atomic-level confirmation of the effectiveness of dislocation pileup at the nucleation site for various strain-induced phase transformations (PTs), and exhibit some limitations.

The stationary motion of shuffle screw and 60∘ dislocations in silicon when the applied shear, τap, is much below the static Peierls stress,τpmax, is proved and quantified through a series of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations at 1 K and 300 K, and also by solving the continuum-level equation of motion, which uses the atomistic information as inputs. The concept of a dynamic Peierls stress, τpd, below which a stationary dislocation motion can never be possible, is built upon a firm atomistic foundation. In MD simulations at 1 K, the dynamic Peierls stress is found to be 0.33GPa for a shuffle screw dislocation and 0.21GPa for a shuffle 60∘ dislocation, versus τpmax of 1.71GPa and 1.46GPa, respectively. The critical initial velocity v0c(τap) above which a dislocation can maintain a stationary motion at τpd<τap<τpmax is found. The velocity dependence of the dissipation stress associated with the dislocation motion is then characterized and informed into the equation of motion of dislocation at the continuum level. A stationary dislocation motion below τpmax is attributed to: (i) the periodic lattice resistance smaller than τpmax almost everywhere; and (ii) the change of a dislocation’s kinetic energy, which acts in a way equivalent to reducing τpmax. The results obtained here open up the possibilities of a dynamic intensification of plastic flow and defects accumulations, and consequently, the strain-induced phase transformations. Similar approaches can be applicable to partial dislocations, twin and phase interfaces.

In this paper, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the interaction between tilt grain boundaries (GBs) and a shuffle screw dislocation in silicon are performed. Results show that dislocations transmit into the neighboring grain for all GBs in silicon. For Σ3, Σ9 and Σ19 GBs, when a dislocation interacts with a heptagon site, it transmits the GB directly. In contrast, when interacting with a pentagon site, it first cross slips to a plane on the heptagon site and then transmits the GB. The energy barrier is also quantified using the climbing image nudged elastic band (CINEB) method. Results show that Σ3 GB provides a barrier for dislocation at the same level of the Peierls barrier. For both Σ9 and Σ19 GBs, the barrier from the heptagon sites is much larger than the pentagon sites. Since the energy barrier for crossing all the GBs at the heptagon sites is only slightly larger than the Peierls barrier, perfect screw dislocations cannot pile up against these GBs. Furthermore, the critical shear stress averaged over the whole sample for the transmission through the Σ9 and Σ19 GBs is almost twice on heptagon site for initially equilibrium dislocation comparing with dislocations moving at a constant velocity.

Ductile alloys fail in corrosive environments by intergranular stress corrosion cracking, through interactions between mechanical and chemical processes that are not yet understood. We investigate formation and mechanical effects of metal defects produced by grain boundary corrosion of low-alloy pipeline steel, at conditions of high susceptibility to stress corrosion cracking in the absence of hydrogen evolution. Nanoindentation measurements show local softening near corroded grain boundaries, indicated by significantly reduced critical loads for dislocation nucleation. Molecular dynamics simulations of nanoindentation of bulk iron showed that metal vacancies and not interstitial hydrogen atoms explain the observed critical load reduction. Both the dislocation activation volume and dislocation activation energy for vacancy-charged samples are found to be nearly one-half of that for a hydrogen charged samples. Quantitative agreement with experimentally measured indentation response was found for vacancy concentrations equivalent to the bulk silicon concentration in the steel, suggesting that vacancies originate from oxidation of reactive silicon solute atoms at grain boundaries. The results help explain the chemical mechanism of formation of vacancy defects that may participate in grain boundary degradation in the absence of hydrogen embrittlement environment.