Spatio-temporal aspects of low-temperature thermomechanical instabilities: A model based on dislocation dynamics

The occurrence of plastic instabilities which are accompanied by a significant heat release is a typical feature of the plastic behaviour of metals deformed at sufficiently low temperature. This phenomenon may be studied within the framework of a dislocation-dynamical model. The influence of the heat which is released by the deformation process on the dislocation velocity, and thus on the deformation dynamics, is taken into account. In particular, the influence of the spatial coupling which arises from heat conduction on the spatio-temporal behaviour of the deformation process is studied.