Why do dislocations assemble into interfaces in epitaxy as well as in crystal plasticity ? To minimize free energy

Dislocations commonly form planar arrays that minimize the free interfacial energy between relatively mismatched crystal volumes. In epitaxy and phase transformations, the causative misfit is that between differences in lattice structure and/or orientations of different phases. The present article aims to (a) document the fact that, while being formed, dislocation structures due to plastic deformation are in thermodynamical equilibrium, (b) firmly establish the outlined connection between planar dislocation arrays of all types, and, thereby, (c) establish the kinship between epitaxy and plastic deformation of crystalline materials.