Dislocations as a Tool for Nanostructuring Advanced Materials

Dislocations present unique opportunities for nanostructuring advanced structural and functional materials due to the recent discoveries of linear complexions thermodynamically stable nanoscale features with unique chemistry and structure confined at dislocations. The formation of such features is driven by solute segregation near the dislocation core and results in the stabilization of dislocations, altering mechanical, thermodynamic, and transport properties of the final material. This perspective article gives an overview of the recent discoveries and predictions made by high-resolution experimental characterization techniques, as well as large-scale atomistic simulations in the newly emerging field of linear complexions.