Climb via vacancy diffusion of edge dislocations in 2D dislocation microstructures

The prevention of strength degradation of components is one of the great challenges in solid mechanics. In particular, at high temperatures material may deform even at low stresses, a deformation mode known as deformation creep. One of the microstructural mechanisms that governs deformation creep is dislocation motion due to the absorption or emission of vacancies, which results in motion perpendicular to the glide plane, called dislocation climb. However, the importance of the dislocation network for the deformation creep remains far from being understood. In this study, a climb model that accounts for the dislocation network is developed, by solving the diffusion equation for vacancies in a region with a general dislocation distribution. The definition of the sink strength is extended, to account for the contributions of neighbouring dislocations to the climb rate. The model is then applied to dislocation dipoles and dislocation pile-ups, which are dense dislocation structures and it is found that the sink strength of dislocations in a pile-up is reduced since the vacancy field is distributed between the dislocations. Finally, the importance of the results for modelling deformation creep is discussed.     

Multiple time step molecular dynamics simulation for interaction between dislocations and grain boundaries

A multiple time step algorithm, called reversible reference system propagator algorithm, is introduced for the long time molecular dynamics simulation. In contrast to the conventional algorithms, the multiple time method has better convergence, stability and efficiency. The method is validated by simulating free relaxation and the hypervelocity impact of nano-clusters. The time efficiency of the multiple time step method enables us to investigate the long time interaction between lattice dislocations and low-angle grain boundaries.The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (the 973 Project 2004CB619304).     

A single theory for some quasi-static,supersonic, atomic,and tectonic scale applications of dislocations

We describe a model based on continuum mechanics that reduces the study of a significant class of problems of discrete dislocation dynamics to questions of the modern theory of continuum plasticity. As applications, we explore the questions of the existence of a Peierls stress in a continuum theory, dislocation annihilation, dislocation dissociation, finite-speed-of-propagation effects of elastic waves vis-a-vis dynamic dislocation fields, supersonic dislocation motion, and short-slip duration in rupture dynamics.     

Displacement fields and self-energies of circular and polygonal dislocation loops in homogeneous and layered anisotropic solids

There are large classes of materials problems that involve the solutions of stress, displacement, and strain energy of dislocation loops in elastically anisotropic solids, including increasingly detailed investigations of the generation and evolution of irradiation induced defect clusters ranging in sizes from the micro- to meso-scopic length scales. Based on a two-dimensional Fourier transform and Stroh formalism that are ideal for homogeneous and layered anisotropic solids, we have developed robust and computationally efficient methods to calculate the displacement fields for circular and polygonal dislocation loops. Using the homogeneous nature of the Green tensor of order −1, we have shown that the displacement and stress fields of dislocation loops can be obtained by numerical quadrature of a line integral. In addition, it is shown that the sextuple integrals associated with the strain energy of loops can be represented by the product of a pre-factor containing elastic anisotropy effects and a universal term that is singular and equal to that for elastic isotropic case. Furthermore, we have found that the self-energy pre-factor of prismatic loops is identical to the effective modulus of normal contact, and the pre-factor of shear loops differs from the effective indentation modulus in shear by only a few percent. These results provide a convenient method for examining dislocation reaction energetic and efficient procedures for numerical computation of local displacements and stresses of dislocation loops, both of which play integral roles in quantitative defect analyses within combined experimental–theoretical investigations.     

Uniqueness results for nonlocal Hamilton-Jacobi equations

We are interested in nonlocal eikonal equations describing the evolution of interfaces moving with a nonlocal, non-monotone velocity. For these equations, only the existence of global-in-time weak solutions is available in some particular cases. In this paper, we propose a new approach for proving uniqueness of the solution when the front is expanding. This approach simplifies and extends existing results for dislocation dynamics. It also provides the first uniqueness result for a Fitzhugh-Nagumo system. The key ingredients are some new perimeter estimates for the evolving fronts as well as some uniform interior cone property for these fronts.     

Helium irradiation-induced defects in deformed 316L stainless steel

Well-annealed 316L stainless steel was first cold rolled to 10% and 20% reductions in thickness and then irradiated by 50 keV He⁺ to a dose of 1 × 10²⁰ He⁺/m² at room temperature. Thermal desorption spectroscopy was used to investigate the helium desorption behaviour at different helium trapping states. The results showed that high-density dislocations had stronger inhibitory effect for helium desorption at temperatures from 800 to 1200 K. Positron annihilation Doppler broadening spectroscopy measurements were used to investigate the distribution of helium irradiation-induced defects. The S–E and ΔS–E plots clearly demonstrated that the helium irradiation-induced defects were trapped and restricted in motion by dislocations. The interaction between dislocations and helium irradiation-induced defects in deformed 316L stainless steel was investigated.