In this letter we propose a model that demonstrates the effect of free surface on the lattice resistance experienced by a moving dislocation in nanodimensional systems. This effect manifests in an enhanced velocity of dislocation due to the proximity of the dislocation line to the surface. To verify this finding, molecular dynamics simulations for an edge dislocation in bcc molybdenum are performed and the results are found to be in agreement with the numerical implementations of this model. The reduction in this effect at higher stresses and temperatures, as revealed by the simulations, confirms the role of lattice resistance behind the observed change in the dislocation velocity.
Plastic deformation of crystals is a physical phenomenon, which has immensely driven the development of human civilisation since the onset of the Chalcolithic period. This process is primarily governed by the motion of line defects, called dislocations. Each dislocation traps a quantum of plastic deformation expressible in terms of its Burgers vector[1,2]. Theorising the mechanisms of dislocation motion at the atomistic scales of length and time remains a challenging task on account of the extreme complexities associated with the dynamics. We present a new concept of modelling a moving dislocation as the dynamic distribution of the elastic field singularity within the span of the Burgers vector. Surprisingly, numerical implementation of this model for the periodic expansion-shrinkage cycle of the singularity is found to exhibit an energetics, which resembles that of a dislocation moving in the presence of the Peierls barrier[1-4]. The singularity distribution is shown to be the natural consequence under the external shear stress. Moreover, in contrast to the conventional assumption, here the calculations reveal a significant contribution of the linear elastic region surrounding the core towards the potential barrier.
Atomistic computations of the Peierls stress in fcc metals are relatively scarce. By way of contrast, there are many more atomistic computations for bcc metals, as well as mixed discrete-continuum computations of the Peierls-Nabarro type for fcc metals. One of the reasons for this is the low Peierls stresses in fcc metals. Because atomistic computations of the Peierls stress take place in finite simulation cells, image forces caused by boundaries must either be relaxed or corrected for if system size independent results are to be obtained. One of the approaches that has been developed for treating such boundary forces is by computing them directly and subsequently subtracting their effects, as developed by V. B. Shenoy and R. Phillips [Phil. Mag. A, 76 (1997) 367]. That work was primarily analytic, and limited to screw dislocations and special symmetric geometries. We extend that work to edge and mixed dislocations, and to arbitrary two-dimensional geometries, through a numerical finite element computation. We also describe a method for estimating the boundary forces directly on the basis of atomistic calculations. We apply these methods to the numerical measurement of the Peierls stress and lattice resistance curves for a model aluminum (fcc) system using an embedded-atom potential.
We study the dynamic response of a superfluid field to a moving edge dislocation line to which the field is minimally coupled. We use a dissipative Gross-Pitaevskii equation, and determine the initial conditions by solving the equilibrium version of the model. We consider the subsequent time evolution of the field for both glide and climb dislocation motion and analyze the results for a range of values of the constant speed $V_D$ of the moving dislocation. We find that the type of motion of the dislocation line is very important in determining the time evolution of the superfluid field distribution associated with it. Climb motion of the dislocation line induces increasing asymmetry, as function of time, in the field profile, with part of the probability being, as it were, left behind. On the other hand, glide motion has no effect on the symmetry properties of the superfluid field distribution. Damping of the superfluid field due to excitations associated with the moving dislocation line occurs in both cases.
During plastic deformation of crystalline materials, point defects such as vacancies and interstitials are generated by jogs on moving dislocations. A detailed model for jog formation and transport during plastic deformation was developed within the vector density-based continuum dislocation dynamics framework (Lin and El-Azab, 2020; Xia and El-Azab, 2015). As a part of this model, point defect generation associated with jog transport was formulated in terms of the volume change due to the non-conservative motion of jogs. Balance equations for the vacancies and interstitials including their rate of generation due to jog transport were also formulated. A two-way coupling between point defects and dislocation dynamics was then completed by including the stress contributed by the eigen-strain of point defects. A jog drag stress was further introduced into the mobility law of dislocations to account for the energy dissipation during point defects generation. A number of test problems and a fully coupled simulation of dislocation dynamics and point defect generation and diffusion were performed. The results show that there is an asymmetry of vacancy and interstitial generation due to the different formation energies of the two types of defects. The results also show that a higher hardening rate and a higher dislocation density are obtained when the point defect generation mechanism is coupled to dislocation dynamics.