Contribution of van der Waals forces to the plasticity of magnesium

The accurate determination of stacking fault energies (SFE) and associated restoring forces is important for understanding plastic deformation, especially the dislocation emission and motion in metals. In this work, we use density-functional theory (DFT) calculations to, systematically study the all-dimension relaxed atomic models of Mg crystal slip, with a special focus on the "subslip modes" in prismatic and pyramidal slip systems. We find that slip systems with large interplanar distances are readily activated, which agrees well with experimental observations. Inclusion of the ubiquitous van der Waals (vdW) interactions results in lower generalized stacking fault energy curves. Remarkably, the unstable SFE value of pyramidal-II system is strongly reduced by up to 69 mJ/m², and the related restoring stress is lowered by 0.74 GPa after taking into account the vdW energy. Our calculations indicate significant effect of vdW forces on the plasticity of Mg.