Annihilation of dislocations during tensile and cyclic deformation and limits of dislocation densities

It is proposed that, during dislocation glide at low temperatures, both screw and non-screw dislocations annihilate mutually with dislocations of opposite sign approaching on closely neighbouring glide planes. The experimental evidence is summarized and possible mechanisms are discussed. Phenomenological models of dislocation accumulation during deformation, taking into account the annihilation of dislocations are formulated. (author)