Studies of Extended Dislocation Configurations in HCP Silver-Tin Alloys
Recently we have reported the stacking fault energy in a series of hcp silver-tin alloys as a function of composition. The stacking fault energy was found to increase linearly with composition from 5.5 erg/cm2 for an 11.9 at.% tin alloy to 18.9 erg/cm2 for a 17.2 at.% tin alloy. Measurements were made on extended dislocation nodes and double-ribbons observed in thin foils by means of transmission electron microscopy. During the course of this investigation a number of dislocation configurations were observed as the result of interactions between extended dislocations lying on adjacent basal planes. Many of these configurations were identical to those which have been extensively studied by Delavignette and Amelinckx in hexagonal graphite. The same basal plane faulting pattern is found there as in the hcp structure. We have observed other configurations in these alloys that could be associated with cross-slip of basal dislocations or with their interactions with non-basal dislocations. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss faulting in the hcp structure and to describe several of the dislocation configurations observed in these silver-tin alloys.