Relaxation waves in plastic deformation

Conclusion Experimental study of distortion fields of plastically deformed solids performed on a wide range of materials including fine- and coarse-grain body- and face-centered polycrystals, as well as amorphous alloys reveals that in these materials plastic deformation develops in the form of waves having translational and rotational components. This fact is in accordance with the currently developed theory of a turbulent mechanical field, which also has translational and rotational components.The plastic deformation waves are observable at a macroscopic structural level, and their spatial period (wavelength) is determined by the dimensions of the deformed object and dimensions of the basic structural elements (for a polycrystal, the grain size). The propagation rate of these waves is significantly less than the characteristic propagation rate of an elastic excitation and the velocity of previously described plastic waves which are produced by shock deformation, which latter speed is determined by the hardening coefficient.The character of plasticity waves depends on the form of the material's deformation curve, and on the stage of the hardening curve. The distribution of plastic distortion components changes especially significantly in prefailure regions, which allows detection of the latter long before formation of a macroscopic crack. The role of rotations in forming the failure process has been established.A synergetic interpretation of plasticity wave formation has been proposed, based on synchronization of relaxation acts occurring at stress concentrators during the deformation process.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 2, pp. 19–35, February, 1990.