Edge dislocation

An edge dislocation is a crystal line defect whose Burgers vector is perpendicular to the dislocation line. It is often pictured as the termination of an extra half-plane of atoms inside the crystal.

Motion of the line allows a slip displacement to advance through the material without every bond across a whole plane changing simultaneously. Its surrounding elastic distortion includes compressive and tensile regions, connecting an atomic-scale defect with macroscopic plastic deformation.