Dislocation Etch Pits in Silver

Abstract
A modification of the etchant used by Levinstein and Robinson is shown to be a reliable solution in producing etch pits at dislocations on the (111) surface of silver crystals and is used to investigate the dislocation structures in as‐grown, annealed, and deformed silver crystals. Single crystals of silver with dislocation densities on the order of 104 cm−2 with a few subboundaries were prepared by high‐temperature annealing. Two distinct sizes of dislocation etch pits are found in both as‐grown and deformed crystals. The two sizes of etch pits are concluded to be associated with positive and negative edge dislocations through detailed observations of etch‐pit rosettes produced by indentation. The modified Levinstein‐Robinson etchant for silver thus corresponds to the Livingston etchant for copper. Additional observations are made on polygonization, dislocation interactions, and etch‐pit morphology. Large etch pits not associated with individual dislocations are also described.

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