Stacking fault energy and mechanical properties

Several deformation mechanisms are discussed which may be influenced by the stacking fault energy: forest cutting at the beginning of plastic deformation in fcc and hex metals, cross slip in fee metals, prismatic slip in hexagonal metals, and slip in bee metals. Existing experimental data for the temperature and strain rate dependence of the shear stress at which the relevant deformation mechanism begins are analyzed. It is shown that the data for cross slip in fee metals, for prismatic slip, and for slip in bee metals can be described by an Arrhenius equation with an activation energy that is proportional to the logarithm of the stress. Stacking fault energies are determined from the strain rate sensitivity of the shear stress.