Dislocations in materials with mixed covalent and metallic bonding

Environment-dependent bond-order potentials have been developed for L10 TiAl, bcc Mo and fcc Ir. They comprise both the angular character of bonding and the screening effect of nearly free electrons. These potentials have been employed in atomistic studies of screw dislocations that revealed the non-planar character of their cores. It is argued that both covalent as well as metallic character of bonding govern these structures, which in turn control the mechanical behaviour.