Self-blocking of dislocations in the intermetallic compound Ni3Ge: reconstruction of a two-valley potential relief

Abstract

The possibility of the reconstruction of the shape of the potential relief (single-valley-two-valley) and its parameters using the effect of self-blocking has been demonstrated. Allowed and forbidden regions for self-blocking have been revealed. A relation has been established between the ratio of the dislocation energies in a deep (Ed) and shallow (E0) valleys of the potential relief and the limiting angle \(\tilde \phi\) for self-blocking. A method is suggested for determining the ratio of the energy depths Ed/E0 of the valleys via a detailed analysis of TEM images of the dislocation structure. The dislocation structure of preliminarily deformed Ni3Ge single crystals has been studied after heating without loading. The angles of the transition from curvilinear to rectilinear segments extended along preferred directions have been measured and the estimations of the limiting angle \(\tilde \phi\) of self-blocking have been performed. Based on these estimations, it is shown that the ratio of the energies of dislocations in the deep and shallow valleys is Ed/E0 ≈ 0.7. This ratio between the energies of dislocations in the deep and shallow valleys of the potential relief has been obtained for the first time.