Molecular dynamics study of Al solute-dislocation interactions in Mg alloys

Abstract

In this study, atomistic simulations are performed to study the effect of Al solute on the behaviour of edge dislocation in Mg alloys. After the dissociation of an Mg basal edge dislocation into two Shockley partials using molecular mechanics, the interaction between the dislocation and Al solute at different temperatures is studied using molecular dynamics. It appears from the simulations that the critical shear stress increases with the Al solute concentration. Comparing with the solute effect at T = 0 K, however, the critical shear stress at a finite temperature is lower since the kinetic energy of the atoms can help the dislocation conquer the energy barriers created by the Al atoms. The velocity of the edge dislocation decreases as the Al concentration increases when the external shear stress is relatively small regardless of temperature. The Al concentration effect on the dislocation velocity is not significant at very high shear stress level when the solute concentration is below 4.0 at%. Drag coefficient B increases with the Al concentration when the stress to temperature ratio is below 0.3 MPa/K, although the effect is more significant at low temperatures.