Electron force-induced dislocations annihilation and regeneration of a superalloy through electrical in-situ transmission electron microscopy observations

What effect does electric current do on dislocation evolution of metals keeps being a confusing question to be answered and proved. To this end, the dislocation evolution of a superalloy with electric current was directly observed by electrical in-situ transmission electron microscopy in this work. Dislocations annihilation at first and then regeneration was found for the first time, which directly proves the existence of electron force during the electrically-assisted manufacturing. Dislocations regeneration would be driven by the electron force and the resistance softening by the local Joule heating effect. Resultantly, a base could be provided for future electrically-assisted research. (C) 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science & Technology.