Atomic-scale avalanche along a dislocation in a random alloy

TL;DR

This paper provides the first atomic-scale evidence that dislocation propagation in random alloys occurs via avalanches, exhibiting critical behavior consistent with second order phase transitions.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the depinning of dislocations in random alloys follows a second order phase transition paradigm at the atomic scale.

Findings

Dislocation avalanches exhibit scale-invariant behavior.

Critical thresholds lead to diverging avalanche size and duration.

Atomic-scale evidence supports phase transition models in dislocation dynamics.

Abstract

The propagation of dislocations in random crystals is evidenced to be governed by atomic-scale avalanches whose the extension in space and the time intermittency characterizingly diverge at the critical threshold. Our work is the very first atomic-scale evidence that the paradigm of second order phase transitions applies to the depinning of elastic interfaces in random media.