265 research outputs found
Size scaling of strength in thin film delamination
We investigate by numerical simulation the system size dependence of the
shear delamination strength of thin elastic films. The films are connected to a
rigid substrate by a disordered interface containing a pre-existing crack. The
size dependence of the strength of this system is found to depend crucially on
the crack shape. For circular cracks, we observe a crossover between a
size-independent regime at large crack radii which is controlled by propagation
of the pre-existing crack, and a size-dependent regime at small radii which is
dominated by nucleation of new cracks in other locations. For cracks of finite
width that span the system transversally, we observe for all values of the
crack length a logarithmic system size dependence of the failure stress. The
results are interpreted in terms of extreme value statistics.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Slip avalanches in crystal plasticity: scaling of the avalanche cutoff
Plastic deformation of crystals proceeds through a sequence of intermittent
slip avalanches with scale-free (power-law) size distribution. On macroscopic
scales, however, plastic flow is known to be smooth and homogeneous. In the
present letter we use a recently proposed continuum model of slip avalanches to
systematically investigate the nature of the cut-off which truncates scale-free
behavior at large avalanche sizes. The dependence of the cut-off on system
size, geometry, and driving mode, but also on intrinsic parameters such as the
strain hardening rate is established. Implications for the observability of
avalanche behavior in microscopic and macroscopic samples are discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure
Dynamical correlations near dislocation jamming
Dislocation assemblies exhibit a jamming or yielding transition at a critical
external shear stress value . Nevertheless the nature of this
transition has not been ascertained. Here we study the heterogeneous and
collective nature of dislocation dynamics within a crystal plasticity model
close to , by considering the first-passage properties of the
dislocation dynamics. As the transition is approached in the moving phase, the
first passage time distribution exhibits scaling, and a related peak {\it
dynamical} susceptibility diverges as , with . We relate this scaling
to an avalanche description of the dynamics. While the static structural
correlations are found to be independent of the external stress, we identify a
diverging dynamical correlation length in the direction perpendicular
to the dislocation glide motion.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Role of density fluctuations in the relaxation of random dislocation systems
We study the relaxation dynamics of systems of straight, parallel crystal
dislocations, starting from initially random and uncorrelated positions of the
individual dislocations. A scaling model of the relaxation process is
constructed by considering the gradual extinction of the initial density
fluctuations present in the system. The model is validated by ensemble
simulations of the discrete dynamics of dislocations. Convincing agreement is
found for systems of edge dislocations in single slip irrespective of the net
Burgers vector of the dislocation system. It is also demonstrated that the
model does not work in multiple slip geometries.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures; submitted to Journal of Statistical Mechanics:
theory and experiment after 2nd round of referenc
noise and avalanche scaling in plastic deformation
We study the intermittency and noise of dislocation systems undergoing shear
deformation. Simulations of a simple two-dimensional discrete dislocation
dynamics model indicate that the deformation rate exhibits a power spectrum
scaling of the type . The noise exponent is far away from a
Lorentzian, with . This result is directly related to the
way the durations of avalanches of plastic deformation activity scale with
their size.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Strain bursts in plastically deforming Molybdenum micro- and nanopillars
Plastic deformation of micron and sub-micron scale specimens is characterized
by intermittent sequences of large strain bursts (dislocation avalanches) which
are separated by regions of near-elastic loading. In the present investigation
we perform a statistical characterization of strain bursts observed in
stress-controlled compressive deformation of monocrystalline Molybdenum
micropillars. We characterize the bursts in terms of the associated elongation
increments and peak deformation rates, and demonstrate that these quantities
follow power-law distributions that do not depend on specimen orientation or
stress rate. We also investigate the statistics of stress increments in between
the bursts, which are found to be Weibull distributed and exhibit a
characteristic size effect. We discuss our findings in view of observations of
deformation bursts in other materials, such as face-centered cubic and
hexagonal metals.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Phil Ma
Self-affine surface morphology of plastically deformed metals
We analyze the surface morphology of metals after plastic deformation over a
range of scales from 10 nm to 2 mm, using a combination of atomic force
microscopy and scanning white-light interferometry. We demonstrate that an
initially smooth surface during deformation develops self-affine roughness over
almost four orders of magnitude in scale. The Hurst exponent of
one-dimensional surface profiles is initially found to decrease with increasing
strain and then stabilizes at . By analyzing their statistical
properties we show that the one-dimensional surface profiles can be
mathematically modelled as graphs of a fractional Brownian motion. Our findings
can be understood in terms of a fractal distribution of plastic strain within
the deformed samples
Dislocation interactions mediated by grain boundaries
The dynamics of dislocation assemblies in deforming crystals indicate the
emergence of collective phenomena, intermittent fluctuations and strain
avalanches. In polycrystalline materials, the understanding of plastic
deformation mechanisms depends on grasping the role of grain boundaries on
dislocation motion. Here the interaction of dislocations and elastic, low angle
grain boundaries is studied in the framework of a discrete dislocation
representation. We allow grain boundaries to deform under the effect of
dislocation stress fields and compare the effect of such a perturbation to the
case of rigid grain boudaries. We are able to determine, both analytically and
numerically, corrections to dislocation stress fields acting on neighboring
grains, as mediated by grain boundary deformation. Finally, we discuss
conclusions and consequences for the avalanche statistics, as observed in
polycrystalline samples.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure
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