Dallas R. Trinkle
Research Group
Aluminum
We can examining dislocation/solute interactions to understand the problem of Mg solutes pinning dislocations in aluminum. The pinning by a “Cottrell atmosphere” of solutes is governed by the attraction of Mg solutes to the tensile strain field of an edge dislocation. Accurate density-functional calculations provide interaction energies all the way to the core of the dislocation. The accurate modeling of Al dislocation/Mg solute interaction is important for dynamic-strain aging: mechanical behavior that produces shear-bands (the Portevin-Le Chatlier, or PLC, effect)—which limits the formability of Al alloys.
Publications
- “Prediction of dislocation cores in aluminum from density functional theory”
C. Woodward, D. R. Trinkle, L. G. Hector, and D. L. Olmsted. Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 045507 (2008): publication, PDF, doi
This work was in collaboration with Louis G. Hector, Jr. and General Motors and Christopher Woodward at AFRL.