Dislocation reactions and junctions in MgO

Deformation processes in MgO single crystals are simulated at the mesoscopic scale using 3-D dislocation dynamics simulations. Our goal is to understand the strong hardening properties of this material through interactions and reactions between dislocations gliding in non-coplanar slip systems. This study focuses on interactions between dislocations of the 1/2〈1 1 0〉{1 1 0} slip systems. The systematic modeling of dislocation intersections shows that only sessile “Lomer-like” junctions are energetically favorable which is consistent with previous observations.