Shear impossibility: Comments on “Void growth by dislocation emission” and “Void growth in metals: Atomistic calculations”

Recently it was proposed that voids in crystals could grow by emission of shear dislocation loops [V.A. Lubarda, M.S. Scheider, D.H. Kalantar, B.A. Remington, M.A. Meyers, Acta Materialia 52 (2004) 1397–1408]. Even more recently, this proposal was ostensibly supported by molecular simulations of voids in strained single crystals [S. Traiviratana, E.M. Bringa, D.J. Benson, M.A. Meyers, Acta Materialia 56 (2008) 3874–3886]. The purpose of this comment is to dispute this recent assertion as unfounded.