At higher applied loads, dendrites deflect into close alignment with the loading axis (Fig. ). A 30 μm thick electrolyte disc was successively loaded and unloaded as metal dendrites propagated under 0.3 mA/cm 2 galvanostatic current density (Fig. ). In this experiment, applied 200 MPa compressive loads produced dendrite growth nearly aligned with the loading direction, even for current densities up to 5 mA/cm 2 (Figs. ). Upon load removal, the dendrites grow towards the stripping electrode, and eventually electrically short the cell (seen in Fig. ). This observation demonstrates that compressive stresses can prevent electrical shorting.