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Ultrasound as a probe of dislocation density in aluminum

Dislocations are at the heart of the plastic behavior of crystalline materials yet it is notoriously difficult to perform quantitative, non-intrusive, measurements of their single or collective properties. Dislocation density is a critical variable that determines dislocation mobility, strength and ductility. On the one hand, individual dislocations can be probed in detail with transmission electron microscopy. On the other hand, their collective properties must be simulated numerically. Here we show that ultrasound technology can be used to measure dislocation density. This development rests on theory---a generalization of the Granato-Lücke theory for the interaction of elastic waves with dislocations---and Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy (RUS) measurements. The chosen material is aluminum, to which different dislocation contents were induced through annealing and cold rolling processes. The dislocation densities obtained with RUS compare favorably with those inferred from X-ray diffraction, using the modified Williamson-Hall method.