Editing Dislocation (section)

==== Pinning ====
Adding pinning points that inhibit the motion of dislocations, such as alloying elements, can introduce stress fields that ultimately strengthen the material by requiring a higher applied stress to overcome the pinning stress and continue dislocation motion.

The effects of strain hardening by accumulation of dislocations and the grain structure formed at high strain can be removed by appropriate heat treatment ([[Annealing (metallurgy)|annealing]]) which promotes the [[recovery (metallurgy)|recovery]] and subsequent [[Recrystallization (metallurgy)|recrystallization]] of the material.

The combined processing techniques of work hardening and [[Annealing (metallurgy)|annealing]] allow for control over dislocation density, the degree of dislocation entanglement, and ultimately the [[yield strength]] of the material.