Strain Fields around Dislocation Cores Studied by Analyzing Coordinates of Discrete Atoms

Abstract

Dislocation core structures in Au and Cu crystals are investigated by means of quasicontinuum simulations combined with the embedded atom method potentials. A dislocation pair in a graphene sheet, which is observed by Warner et al. experimentally, is also analyzed in the present work. The strain fields around these dislocations in Au, Cu, and graphene crystals are calculated by analyzing the coordinates of discrete atoms, which is a strain tensor calculation method proposed by Zimmerman et al., and compared with theoretical predictions based on Foreman dislocation model. It is shown that the strain fields given by Zimmerman theory are completely suitable for describing the dislocation core structures of Au, Cu and graphene crystals. However, compared with the results of Au and Cu, the Zimmerman strain field in the vicinity of graphene dislocation core is a little less accurate, possibly due to the effect of lattice symmetry of graphene, which needs to be clarified in the future study.