A two-dimensional discrete dislocation dynamics code was developed and used to simulate dislocation patterning. For the present study of annealing, both glide and some climb were allowed in the simulations. In these circumstances patterning takes place even in the absence of external stresses and of dislocation sources. A triangular underlying lattice was assumed, with the three slip systems equally populated initially. Well-defined dislocation walls and cells are observed to form from random initial conditions. The structure coarsens with time, i.e. the typical size of the cells increases as annealing takes place (the smaller cells shrink and disappear from the structure). In the spirit of a bottom-up multiscale approach, it is suggested that a new simulation methodology should be developed, in which the discrete moving objects will be dislocation wall segments rather than individual dislocations.

The effect of post-irradiation annealing at 300°C for 50 hours on the microstructure and mechanical properties of CuCrZr irradiated to 0.3 dpa at 100°C has been evaluated. The post- irradiation annealing restores some ductility and work hardening to the material as well as lowers the yield strength, however it does not completely remove the effects of irradiation. A comparison of the microstructural features and mechanical properties in the as-irradiated condition and in the post-irradiation annealed case highlights the fact that the observed microstructure does not necessarily correlate with the changes in tensile behavior, most notably in the removal of the yield point and lowering of the yield stress after annealing.

A numerical model of two phase metal microstructure of f.c.c. type crystal is made where a harder inclusion of a spherical shape is embedded in softer matrix. The model is subjected to a tensile load and its deformation is analyzed by a finite element crystal plasticity code. Under the tensile load, plastic slip deformation on {111}<110> slip systems take place in the matrix and the density distribution of the geometrically necessary dislocations is evaluated from the gradient of plastic shear strain on slip systems. Obtained results show not only a simple loop structure around the inclusion but also kink wall structure and some smaller loops. Details of the strucuture are discussed.

Thermally activated dislocation glide velocity through weak point obstacle arrays is studied analytically and computationally. Thermal activation rate is estimated using the modified Friedel relations under the weak obstacle approximation. The average flight velocity after an activation event as a function of stress and temperature is obtained by the discrete dislocation dynamics (DD). This numerical calculation includes the effect of self-stress, interaction with electrons and phonons, and the inertial effect. These results are implemented into a phenomenological model to study the dislocation velocity under various conditions. The model can reproduce both obstacle control and drag control motion in low and high velocity regions, and a flow stress anomaly at transient regions.

The strengthening effect of grain boundaries is well established and observed experimentally as the Hall-Petch relationship. In this paper different mechanisms proposed in the literature to explain the observed Hall-Petch effect are reviewed critically. The fundamental implications of the different approaches are discussed with reference to experimental data for two different classes of materials;

-Materials with locked dislocations, i.e. with a sharp yield point behaviour.

-Materials without locked dislocations, i.e. with a smooth yielding behaviour.

It is shown that a simple model (Bergström) can be used to understand the grain size strengthening in the latter class of materials while more work is needed to quantitatively understand the behaviour of materials showing a sharp yield point.

Prismatic loops generated by cross-slip are organised in staircase-like strings such that the beginning of a loop corresponds in the screw orientation with the end of its neighbour. Strings constitute nucleation sites for dislocation tangles thus offering an explanation for spontaneous patterning in single glide. A loop string can be partially and even totally eliminated by a single impacting dislocation. In dense walls, loop refinement can also take place conservatively by mutual annihilation of loops of opposite signs.

Nickel based alloys with nominal compositions similar to 78Ni -15Cr -7Fe, commonly referred to as “Inconel”, exhibit serrated flow (Portevin-LeChatelier effect) in the temperature interval of 230-730°C. Within this temperature range a series of thermally activated processes can also be observed when a wire sample of the alloy is heated with the direct resistance method under dead-weight loading while stressed above the room temperature yield. These processes include the expected initial period of plastic deformation at the start of heating followed by its complete arrest at a higher temperature, a behavior that is completely at odds with models for the thermal activation of plastic flow in metals. As the temperature is increased after this first arrest a cascade of two or three large plastic instabilities involving the high velocity propagation of narrow deformation bands is observed. Measurements of the band velocities using the time of flight within a 50.8 mm gage length extensometer indicate that they can exceed 2 m/s in some cases. Estimates of the maximum local strain rate attained within the deformation bands, obtained with a diametral extensometer, approach 15-18 s−1. The localization of plastic flow into narrow, high velocity bands in this material is the result of the collective behavior of dislocations interacting at a high density. As demonstrated by TEM examination of the complex dislocation structures associated with these various events, however, it is difficult to rationalize a specific mechanism for these effects. If one assumes that both serrated flow and the thermally activated strain bursts are manifestations of the same basic mechanism these observations pose a challenging problem for interpretation with models for the Portevin-LeChatelier effect in this material.

The dislocation microstructure observed in solids exhibits cellular patterns. The interiors of these cells are depleted of dislocations while the walls contain dense bundles including the geometrically necessary dislocations leading to misorientations of the crystal lattice on either side. This clustering is the result of short-range interactions which favor the formation of dislocation dipoles or multipoles and tilt and twist boundaries. While this short-range ordering of dislocations is readily understood, the long-range pattern formation is still being studied. We examine finite tilt boundaries in an infinite medium, a model grain, and a free slab to investigate the conditions for long-range stress interactions. We find that finite tilt walls in a larger medium generally possess a long-range stress field because the local bending at the tilt wall is constrained by the surrounding material.

A Multi-scale model coupling discrete dislocation dynamics with continuum plasticity and finite element analysis is used to study the self-stress field of geometrically necessary (dislocation) boundaries (GNBs). The results for a single GNB are presented here. The internal structure of the GNB is obtained from the Frank's formula using experimentally measured misorientation angle/axis pair as the input. Several different types of model boundary conditions (using FEA) are analyzed together with the effect of different parameters like the domain length and mesh sensitivity. It is shown that choosing the right boundary conditions for the FEA strongly affects the predicted internal stress fields of these dislocation boundaries, particularly the long-range effect.

The Alexander-Haasen theory describing the deformation behavior of low-dislocated semiconductor crystals is generalized taking into account the dynamic ageing of dislocations due to the impurities dragging. The constitutive equations describing kinetics of the plastic deformation are modified for the case of a spectrum of age-dependent internal stresses. Besides the solution hardening, the theory developed explains a number of qualitative distinctions of the elastic-plastic transition in silicon crystals grown by the Czochralski and the float zone methods. Particularly, this concerns a dependence of the yield drop on the initial dislocation density, and a weakening of the strain rate sensitivity of the yield stress.

Equal-channel angular pressing is now recognized as an effective technique for fabricating materials with ultrafine structures. It is generally considered that the strain is homogeneously distributed in the materials after ECA pressing. The present investigation shows, however, that severe macroscopic shear band, which extends from bottom to top surface and slants to the longitudinal axis of specimen at an angle of about 45°, develops at regular intervals, with a high shear strain accommodation of about 3.7 within the band. Different families of macroscopic shear bands may cut across each other, and the total volume fraction of macroscopic shear bands may well surpass 50%.

This paper presents a dislocation dynamics simulation of the interaction of a circular dislocation pile-up with a short rigid fiber, say as in metal-matrix composites. The pile-up is composed of glide dislocation loops surrounding the fiber. This problem is treated here as a boundary value problem within the context of dislocation dynamics. The proper boundary condition to be enforced is that of no or zero elastic displacements at the fiber's surface. Such a condition is satisfied by a distribution of rectangular dislocation loops, acting as sources of elastic displacements, meshing the fiber's surface. Such treatment is similar to crack modeling using distributed dislocations and falls under the category of “generalized image stress analysis.” The unknown in this problem is the Burgers vectors of the surface loops. Once those are found, the Peach-Koehler force acting on the circular dislocation loops, and emulating the fiber's presence, can be determined and the dynamical arrangement of the circular pile-up evolves naturally from traditional dislocation dynamics analysis.

The microstructural evolution and texture development in a Cu-Ag eutectic during rolling are systematically investigated. A directionally solidified Cu-Ag alloy with a single dominant texture is deformed to several rolling reductions. At each of these strains, the microstructure and texture are characterized. Rapid divergence of local crystal orientations leads to the early development of high-angle Cu-Ag boundary/interface orientations, while less misorientation accumulation occurs within the individual copper and silver layers. With increasing deformation, orientations of the copper and silver phases in a single region are observed to diverge to two distinct textures, and within each of the single phases, there is a greater spread of orientations of individual cells while still retaining an identifiable preferred orientation.

The dislocations in the extended planar dislocation boundaries formed during deformation are generated by the active slip systems. Investigation of the boundaries is therefore a tool to obtain information on the active slip systems. Here, the orientation of the dislocation boundaries in uniaxially deformed aluminum poly- and single crystals are compared. It is found that the single crystal boundary planes are consistent with those found in polycrystals, indicating that the active slip systems in single and polycrystals are the same. However, boundaries are closer to the slip planes in the single crystals. This is taken as an indication that the secondary slip systems are more active in the polycrystal. The orientation of the boundary plane varies with the crystal orientation in a way that is consistent with activation of the five most stressed slip systems.