Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 November 2012
We have examined the compression response of a ternary Fe2Nb Laves phase by deforming micropillars with a diameter of ~2 μm produced by focused ion beam milling from a two-phase Fe-15Nb-40Ni (at.%) ternary alloy consisting of the Laves phase and γ-Fe. The Laves phase micropillars exhibit high strength of about 6 GPa (of the order of the theoretical shear strength of the material), followed by a burst of plastic strain and shear failure on the basal plane. If dislocation sources are introduced on a non-basal plane in the micropillars by nanoindentation prior to compression, yielding occurs at a significantly lower stress level of about 3 GPa and plastic deformation by slip proceeds on a pyramidal plane close to (-1-122). Furthermore, if regenerative dislocation sources for basal slip are present in the micropillar, the Laves phase can be continuously plastically deformed in a stable manner to at least 5% strain at a significantly lower stress of 800 MPa. We thus demonstrate the plastic deformation of this ternary Laves phase at the micron-scale at room temperature when sufficient dislocation sources are present.