Ferroelastic shear bands in Pb-3(PO4)(2)

SZ Li and U Bismayer and XD Ding and EKH Salje, APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS, 108, 022901 (2016).

DOI: 10.1063/1.4939853

We report shear bands as a precursor structure of deformation twinning in Pb-3(PO4)(2). Atomic force microscopy shows "slip-line" like traces on the surface of untwinned regions of the sample. The traces are shear bands oriented along twin boundaries of the ferroelastic R (3) over barm-C2/c transition. Computer simulations reproduce the shear band patterns and show that each shear band is a precursor embryo of a twin wall that forms under higher shear stress. This observation reveals the structural origin of twin boundaries under stress conditions just before ferroelastic switching occurs. (C) 2016 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Return to Publications page