Tracking the path of dislocations across ordered Al3Zr nano-precipitates in three dimensions

We report on the shear–bypassing transition of chemically ordered Al3Zr nanoprecipitates. Observation of complex combinations of lattice translations, revealed by scanning transmission electron microscopy, is used as the signature of precipitate shearing during cold deformation. A method is proposed to build a three-dimensional atomic model of sheared particles from a set of three atomic scale projections. An estimation of the antiphase boundary energy of the Al3Zr structure is achieved via the comparison of experimental findings to a model of precipitation hardening.

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