Dynamic observation of the collapse process of a stacking fault tetrahedron by moving dislocations

Dynamic observation of the microstructure of quenched gold during deformation in a transmission electron microscope revealed that stacking fault tetrahedra (SFTs) having perfect pyramid structure were collapsed by direct interaction with moving screw dislocations. Although a recent molecular dynamics computer simulation study found that truncation of SFT before interaction with moving dislocations is a necessary condition for the SFT collapse, the present experimental results clearly show that truncation of SFT is not a crucial factor for the collapse mechanism.