Core structure and solute strengthening of second-order pyramidal <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" altimg="si1.gif" overflow="scroll"><mml:mrow><mml:mo>〈</mml:mo><mml:mi>c</mml:mi><mml:mo>+</mml:mo><mml:mi>a</mml:mi><mml:mo>〉</mml:mo></mml:mrow></mml:math> dislocations in Mg-Y alloys

The ability of Y as an alloying agent to improve the ductility of magnesium is explored using a solid solution strengthening model to determine the relative strengthening effect on the available deformation modes. We use density functional theory calculations to determine the interaction energy between an edge 〈c+a〉 dislocation and solute atoms surrounding it. We observe that substituting solute atoms directly into the positions closest to the...