Dislocation

In materials science, a dislocation is a crystallographic defect, or irregularity, within a crystal structure. The presence of dislocations strongly influences many of the properties of materials. The theory was originally developed by Vito Volterra in 1905 but the term 'dislocation' was not coined until later by the late Professor Sir Frederick Charles Frank of the Physics Department at the University of Bristol. Some types of dislocations can be visualized as being caused by the termination of a plane of atoms in the middle of a crystal. In such a case, the surrounding planes are not straight, but instead bend around the edge of the terminating plane so that the crystal structure is perfectly ordered on either side. The analogy with a stack of paper is apt: if a half a piece of paper is inserted in a stack of paper, the defect in the stack is only noticeable at the edge of the half sheet.

There are two primary types: edge dislocations and screw dislocations. Mixed dislocations are intermediate between these.

Mathematically, dislocations are a type of topological defect, sometimes called a soliton. The mathematical theory explains why dislocations behave as stable particles: they can be moved about, but maintain their identity as they move. Two dislocations of opposite orientation, when brought together, can cancel each other (this is the process of annihilation), but a single dislocation typically cannot "disappear" on its own.