Observations of Dislocation Glide and Climb in Lithium Fluoride Crystals

It is shown that reagent CP-4 plus ferric ions can be used to detect the positions of dislocations in LiF crystals. The technique is highly selective and both edge and screw (110) [11̄0] dislocations can be detected and distinguished. A double etching method is used to observe, for the first time, the glide and climb of individual dislocations in LiF.