Surface effects in plastic deformation of metals

It is now accepted that the appearance of slip bands on the surface of a plastically deformed metal is evidence that the deformation is not homogeneous but is concentrated on relatively few atomic planes. Recent microscopical experiments have suggested that this conclusion is only valid in the later stages of deformation and that the first fractional per cent of strain is much more nearly homogeneous. Theories to account for both these stages of deformation are examined in the light of microscopical evidence.

The validity of conclusions about internal processes based on experiments on the surface is discussed; it is shown that the surface finish affects not only the appearance of internal processes but also the processes themselves.

In cases where the deformation is not homogeneous the balance of evidence is that it is also not continuous in time: instead, slip on an active slip plane tends to a limit which is reached either gradually or suddenly depending on the nature of the metal and the conditions of stress. The same processes which stop slip on the active planes produce general hardening of the metal. However, slip can restart on or near to former slip planes as a result of mechanisms activated by temperature and stress, and can, in favourable cases, continue until fracture. Therefore slip bands, the sources of hardening, are also places of weakness.