Relation between the activation parameters of low-temperature slip and themean-square amplitude of atomic vibrations in cubic metals

The available data on various activation parameters of low-temperature slip in 9 body-centred cubic and 5 face-centred cubic elements have been examin ed as a function of a single microscopic parameter, namely mean-square ampl itude of atomic vibrations [u(2)], specific to the material. It is found th at for a given crystal structure, the microscopic parameters of the unit ac tivation process of yielding, e.g. the initial length of dislocation segmen t, the critical height of the kink-pair nucleated, the associated activatio n volume, the binding energy per interatomic spacing along the glide disloc ation on the slip plane etc. correlate well with the mean-square amplitude of atomic vibrations [u(2)] through a power regression formula.