The interaction of a screw dislocation with a circular inhomogeneity near the free surface

The interaction of a screw dislocation with a circular inhomogeneity near the free surface is discussed in this paper. By using the complex potential and conformal mapping technique, an explicit series solution is obtained. Then, the solution is cast into a new expression to separate the interaction effects between the dislocation, inhomogeneity, and free surface. The new expression is not only convenient to reveal the coupling interaction effects, but also helpful to improve the convergence of the solution. As an application of the new expression, a simple approximate formula is presented with high accuracy. Finally, the full-field interaction energy and image force are evaluated and studied graphically. It is found that when the screw dislocation, inhomogeneity, and free surface are close to each other, their interaction effects strongly and intricately couple in the near field. In the case of a soft inhomogeneity or a hole, there is an unstable equilibrium point of the screw dislocation between the inhomogeneity and free surface, whereas in the case of a hard or rigid inhomogeneity, there is an unstable equilibrium point on the opposite side of the inhomogeneity.