Stacking faults and the plastic properties of intermetallic compounds

The measurement of low, medium and high stacking fault energies is reviewed. Two methods appropriate to high fault energies are illustrated: (i) using a configuration which gives a specially large partial separation (ii) measuring the minimum size of screw dipoles. Other aspects of faults are mentioned: the importance of supplementary displacements to APB contrast and the possible implications of a strain field to ± g weak beam image asymmetry. Finally, the influences of temperature and composition on fault energies are discussed