Surface/interface effects on elastic behavior of an edge dislocation in the shell of a core–shell nanowire

• Exact analytical elastic fields of an edge dislocation in a core–shell nanowire.
• Size effect on image force and strain energy via surface elasticity.
• Noted non-classical oscillation in stresses along the surface/interface boundaries.
• Image forces and strain energies are compared with the classical solutions.
• Effects of surface/interface types and the core and shell properties are studied.

The elastic behavior of an edge dislocation placed in the shell of a free-standing core–shell nanowire is considered within the theory of surface/interface elasticity. Using the method of complex potential functions the expressions for the stress field of the dislocation, image forces on the dislocation, and the dislocation strain energy are derived and studied in detail. A special attention is paid to non-classical effects revealed within the surface/interface elasticity approach where a characteristic length parameter referred to as surface/interface modulus is introduced. These effects are (i) the stress oscillations along the shell surface and core–shell interface for negative values of the surface/interface elastic moduli; (ii) a strong dependence of image forces on the core size; (iii) extra repelling (attraction) of the dislocation from (to) the shell surface and core–shell interface characterized by positive (negative) interface modulus; and (iv) a decrease of the dislocation strain energy in the central region of the shell and its local increase with an extra maximum in the vicinity of the shell surface for negative values of the surface/interface elastic moduli. These non-classical effects increase with diminishing core radius and shell thickness and are very strong in the layers of 1 nm thickness adjacent to the core–shell interface and shell surface. The effects of the residual surface stress are also addressed.