Electron tomography of dislocations in an Al-Cu-Mg alloy

Abstract

Dislocation loops and helices are typical dislocation structures in quenched Al-Cu-Mg alloys. In this study, we combine electron tomography and Burgers vector analysis to characterize the spatial arrangement and crystallographic features of such dislocation loops and helices. It is found that the dislocation loops are fully edge in character and on {011} planes. The axis of each dislocation helix formed during quenching is found to be parallel to the Burgers vectors of the helix, which is always of <011> type.