Dislocations in Rutile as Revealed by the Etch‐Pit Technique

Abstract

Potassium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide were found to be satisfactory for polishing various surfaces of rutile. Dislocation etch pits could be produced by alkali fusions, 85% orthophosphoric acid, and concentrated sulfuric acid. The {l 10}‐, near {111}‐, (001)‐, and {100}‐type surfaces were etched and the etch pits were analyzed in terms of their relation to the deformation systems and crystal symmetry. The correlation between etch pits and dislocations was substantiated by means of matched cleavage surfaces, existence of substructures, generation of dislocations, dislocation densities, and polygonization phenomena. Dislocations were introduced by impacting and macroscopic plastic deformation. Generation of dislocations was observed from 1050°C to as low as room temperature. The slip planes confirmed by means of dislocation traces and slip lines were {110}‐and {101}‐type planes. The slip direction corresponding to the {110)‐type plane was [OO11, the close‐packed direction. The Burgers vector, structure, and motion of dislocations in the edge orientation on the {110) [001] system were determined by analyzing the crystal structure. The Burgers vector was c [001], the lattice translation vector, and the dislocations did not dissociate into partial dislocations. Another possible slip system was the (100) [010] system.