Because the ligaments of these materials are essentially small metallic samples, they are themselves expected to be quite ductile; although, the entire nano-porous material is often observed to be brittle in tension. Dislocation behavior is extensive within the ligaments (just as would be expected in a metal): a high density. of partial dislocations, stacking faults and twins have been observed both in simulation and in TEM. However, the morphology of the ligaments makes bulk dislocation motion very difficult; the limited size of each ligament and complex connectivity within the nano-porous structure means that a dislocation cannot freely travel long distances and thus induce large-scale plasticity.