Dislocations in shock-loaded titanium diboride

The structure of shock-loaded polycrystalline titanium diboride was examined with transmission electron microscopy. The shock wave from ballistic impact produces prismatic and basal slip in grains favorably oriented with respect to the shock wave. It can be deduced from annealing experiments with the formation of stacking fault hexagons that there is a high concentration of point defects in deformed regions from the motion of dislocation jogs. Weak-beam microscopy shows that the dislocations in TiB₂ are dissociated into partial dislocations. The stacking fault energy measured from a screw dislocation in the basal plane was found to be 120 mJ/m². Widely dissociated dislocations in the shocked sample suggest that residual stresses are present in some regions.