Precise measurement of activation parameters for individual dislocation nucleation during in situ TEM tensile testing of single crystal nickel

Nucleation of crystalline defects such as dislocations lies at the heart of mechanical deformation. Here, we demonstrate a technique for observing the nucleation of individual dislocations during in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) tensile testing and measuring fundamental parameters relevant for plasticity from the individual events. Our method relies on systematic detection of dislocation slip traces with automated image analysis in an oriented single crystal Ni sample. Using the identification of individual defect traces from in situ testing, a cumulative probabilistic function is applied to correlate the relationship between a dislocation nucleation event and the corresponding stress level. Our analysis allows for the extrapolation of the activation parameters for individual dislocation nucleation events using the data on one sample in one tensile test. Precise and quantitative correlation of activation parameters for dislocation nucleation from in situ TEM nanomechanical testing can provide direct quantitative measurements useful for computational models of plasticity.