Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2011
In this study, the origin of large ductility that is seen in recently discovered rare-earth intermetallic compounds: YCu, YAg and YZn is explored by using fully anisotropic 3D dislocation dynamics simulations. The stability of the glide dislocations, the behavior of the Frank-Read sources and the strength of junctions are evaluated and compared to those seen for the common intermetallics, NiAl and Fe-25Al.