Dislocation mutual interactions mediated by mobile impurities and the conditions for plastic instabilities

Matallic alloys, such as Al or Cu, or mild steel, display plastic instabilities in a well defined range of temperatures and deformation rates, a phenomenon known as the Portevin-Le Chatelelier (PLC) effect. The stick-slip behavior, or serration, typical of this effect is due to the discontinuous motion of dislocations as they interact with solute atoms. Here we study a simple model of interacting dislocations and show how the classical Einstein fluctuation-dissipation relation can be used to define the temperature in a range of model parameters and to construct a phase diagram of serration that can be compared to experimental results. Furthermore, performing analytical calculations and numerically integrating the equations of motion, we clarify the crucial role played by dislocation mutual interactions in serration

Size effects in dislocation depinning models for plastic yield

Typically, the plastic yield stress of a sample is determined from a stress-strain curve by defining a yield strain and reading off the stress required to attain it. However, it is not a priori clear that yield strengths of microscale samples measured this way should display the correct finite size scaling. Here we study plastic yield as a depinning transition of a 1+1 dimensional interface, and consider how finite size effects depend on the choice of yield strain, as well as the presence of hardening and the strength of elastic coupling. Our results indicate that in sufficiently large systems, the choice of yield strain is unimportant, but in smaller systems one must take care to avoid spurious effects.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure

Depinning of a dislocation: the influence of long-range interactions

The theory of the depinning transition of elastic manifolds in random media provides a framework for the statistical dynamics of dislocation systems at yield. We consider the case of a single flexible dislocation gliding through a random stress field generated by a distribution of immobile dislocations threading through its glide plane. The immobile dislocations are arranged in a "restrictedly random" manner and provide an effective stress field whose statistical properties can be calculated explicitly. We write an equation of motion for the dislocation and compute the associated depinning force, which may be identified with the yield stress. Numerical simulations of a discretized version of the equation confirm these results and allow us to investigate the critical dynamics of the pinning-depinning transition.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures. To appear in the proceedings of the Dislocations2000 meeting (published by Materials Science and Engeneering A

Critical exponents in stochastic sandpile models

We present large scale simulations of a stochastic sandpile model in two dimensions. We use moments analysis to evaluate critical exponents and finite size scaling method to consistently test the obtained results. The general picture resulting from our analysis allows us to characterize the large scale behavior of the present model with great accuracy.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Invited talk presented at CCP9

Self-organized criticality as an absorbing-state phase transition

We explore the connection between self-organized criticality and phase transitions in models with absorbing states. Sandpile models are found to exhibit criticality only when a pair of relevant parameters - dissipation epsilon and driving field h - are set to their critical values. The critical values of epsilon and h are both equal to zero. The first is due to the absence of saturation (no bound on energy) in the sandpile model, while the second result is common to other absorbing-state transitions. The original definition of the sandpile model places it at the point (epsilon=0, h=0+): it is critical by definition. We argue power-law avalanche distributions are a general feature of models with infinitely many absorbing configurations, when they are subject to slow driving at the critical point. Our assertions are supported by simulations of the sandpile at epsilon=h=0 and fixed energy density (no drive, periodic boundaries), and of the slowly-driven pair contact process. We formulate a field theory for the sandpile model, in which the order parameter is coupled to a conserved energy density, which plays the role of an effective creation rate.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figure

Dynamically Driven Renormalization Group

We present a detailed discussion of a novel dynamical renormalization group scheme: the Dynamically Driven Renormalization Group (DDRG). This is a general renormalization method developed for dynamical systems with non-equilibrium critical steady-state. The method is based on a real space renormalization scheme driven by a dynamical steady-state condition which acts as a feedback on the transformation equations. This approach has been applied to open non-linear systems such as self-organized critical phenomena, and it allows the analytical evaluation of scaling dimensions and critical exponents. Equilibrium models at the critical point can also be considered. The explicit application to some models and the corresponding results are discussed.Comment: Revised version, 50 LaTex pages, 6 postscript figure

Universality classes and crossover scaling of Barkhausen noise in thin films

We study the dynamics of head-to-head domain walls separating in-plane domains in a disordered ferromagnetic thin film. The competition between the domain wall surface tension and dipolar interactions induces a crossover between a rough domain wall phase at short length-scales and a large-scale phase where the walls display a zigzag morphology. The two phases are characterized by different critical exponents for Barkhausen avalanche dynamics that are in quantitative agreement with experimental measurements on MnAs thin films.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure