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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Mater. 2011 Jun 26;10(8):608–613. doi: 10.1038/nmat3055

Figure 2. Dark field still images extracted from an in situ TEM compression test of a (100) oriented 118 nm diameter copper pillar irradiated to 0.8 dpa (a-e) and the measured load – displacement data (f).

Figure 2

(a) Before contact to the diamond punch, the pillar contains a high density of defects. (b) After yield, deformation and hardening are governed by the bowing and exit of short dislocations, evidenced by gentle load drops in (f). In (c) and (d) dislocations emitted from a spiral dislocation source extend across a slip plane and lead to significant load drops in (f). (e) The slip produced by this dislocation source operation leads to the formation of a large slip step, to which further deformation is confined.