Plastic deformation of wadsleyite: I. High-pressure deformation in compression

 We have studied the plastic deformation of Mg₂SiO₄ wadsleyite polycrystals. Wadsleyite was synthesized from a forsterite powder in a multianvil apparatus. It was then recovered and placed in a second multianvil assembly designed to induce plastic deformation by compression between two hard alumina pistons. After the deformation experiment, the microstructures are characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and large-angle convergent beam electron diffraction (LACBED). Deformation experiments have been carried out at 15–19 GPa and at temperatures ranging from room temperature to 1800–2000 °C. Five different dislocation types have been identified by LACBED: [100], 1/2〈111〉, [010], 〈101〉 and [001]. The [001] dislocations result from dislocation reactions and not from activation of a slip system. The [010] dislocations are activated under high stresses at the beginning of the experiments and further relax by decomposition into 1/2〈111〉 dislocations or by dissociation into four 1/4[010] partial dislocations. The following slip systems have been identified: 1/2〈111〉{101}, [100](010), [100](001), [100]{011}, [100]{021}, [010](001), [010]{101} and 〈101〉(010). Received: 15 July 2002 / Accepted: 14 February 2003 Acknowledgements High-pressure experiments were performed at the Bayerisches Geoinstitut under the EU IHP – Access to Research Infrastructures Programme (Contract no. HPRI-1999-CT-00004 to D.C. Rubie). P.C. has benefited from a Congé thématique pour recherche from the University of Lille, and would like to thank warmly all the people in Bayreuth who contributed to this work by daily assistance and discussions: Nathalie Bolfan-Casanova, Daniel Frost, Jed L. Mosenfelder and Brent Poe. The quality of the preparation of the TEM specimens by H. Schultze is greatly appreciated.