Elastic limit for surface step dislocation nucleation in face-centered cubic metals: Temperature and step height dependence

The influences of surface step state and temperature on the elastic limit for dislocation nucleation from a surface step were analyzed by means of atomic scale simulations in face-centered cubic metals. When varying the step height, two regimes were found: for smaller steps, local effects dominate, whereas for larger steps, the stress concentration prevails. The differences observed for the elastic limit were correlated to relevant properties of the different potentials. Finally, for aluminum, the implication of the activation parameters in the nucleation strain was studied in greater detail. This study is particularly relevant to nanostructures, where plasticity is most often governed by dislocation nucleation rather than dislocation multiplication.