Movement of dislocations in sodium chloride crystals in an electric field

Abstract
A plastic strain has been produced by the application of a suitably directed electric field to a NaCl crystal containing edge dislocations of predominantly one mechanical sign. By comparing this strain with that produced by applying a stress to the same specimen the dislocation charge at room temperature was found to be about −3·8 × 10−13 C cm−1. A similar value was determined from the polarization produced in the specimen under stress. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that dislocations which carry a charge when they move under stress experience a force in an electric field arising from the action of the field on this same charge.