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Matthew Riding
Department of Materials
University of Oxford
Parks Road
Oxford OX1 3PH
UK
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Matthew is in his 4th year on the Department of Materials's MEng Materials Science course. His 4th year project aims to obtain atomic resolution micrographs of the core structure of 1/2(110)<111> BCC screw dislocations, a structure which has until now proven extremely difficult to characterise experimentally. He is working with the micro mechanics group's new Hysitron TI Premier Nanoindenter, which can rapidly create large (10,000+) arrays of shallow nano indents, to produce controlled dislocation distributions in precisely orientated BCC single crystals. These are then thinned to electron transparency and examined in TEM and atomic resolution STEM, using novel electron-optical techniques. Experimental evidence of the specific core structure adopted by these dislocations and their interactions will feed back into integrated models for the micro mechanical and thermo-physical properties of BCC metals, in applications such as plasma-facing components for nuclear fusion reactors.
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