Abstract
The faulted dipoles that are associated with the low temperature deformation of gamma TiAl have been characterized with conventional, high resolution and in situ heating transmission electron microscopy. The results of this analysis indicate that the formation of these faulted dipoles involves the localized pinning of a superdislocation, the bypassing of that pinning point and the drawing out of a dipole whose energy is subsequently reduced by the passage of partial dislocations and the formation of an extrinsic stacking fault. The extrinsic nature of the stacking fault was determined through comparisons with computer generated image simulations and verified by atomic resolution lattice images. These faults are bounded by either single or double Shockley partial dislocations, but the latter is a rare occurrence and the former was identified to be most relevant to the mechanical behaviour of this alloy. The low temperature stability of this defect has been attributed to the ordered structure of TiAl, and the high temperature instability of the faulted dipoles has been related to a localized reordering of the crystal structure by diffusive processes.