Dislocation-mediated plasticity in the Al2Cu θ-phase

The deformation behaviour of the intermetallic Al2Cu θ-phase was investigated using atomistic simulations and micropillar compression, where slip on the unexpected {211} and {022} slip planes was revealed. Additionally, all possible slip systems for the intermetallic phases were further evaluated and a preference for the activation of slip systems based on their effective interplanar distances as well as the effective Burgers vector is proposed. The effective interplanar distance corresponds to the manually determined interplanar distance, whereas the effective Burgers vector takes a potential dislocation dissociation into account. This new order is: {211}½<111>, {022}½<111> and {022}<100>, {110}<001>, {310}<001>, {022}<011>, {110}½<111>, {112}<110> and {112}½<111> from high to low ratio of deff/beff. Also, data on the critical resolved shear stresses of several of these slip systems were measured.