Abstract
The viscoplastic deformation (creep) of crystalline materials under constant stress involves the motion of a large number of interacting dislocations1. Analytical methods and sophisticated ‘dislocation dynamics’ simulations have proved very effective in the study of dislocation patterning, and have led to macroscopic constitutive laws of plastic deformation2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. Yet, a statistical analysis of the dynamics of an assembly of interacting dislocations has not hitherto been performed. Here we report acoustic emission measurements on stressed ice single crystals, the results of which indicate that dislocations move in a scale-free intermittent fashion. This result is confirmed by numerical simulations of a model of interacting dislocations that successfully reproduces the main features of the experiment. We find that dislocations generate a slowly evolving configuration landscape which coexists with rapid collective rearrangements. These rearrangements involve a comparatively small fraction of the dislocations and lead to an intermittent behaviour of the net plastic response. This basic dynamical picture appears to be a generic feature in the deformation of many other materials10,11,12. Moreover, it should provide a framework for discussing fundamental aspects of plasticity that goes beyond standard mean-field approaches that see plastic deformation as a smooth laminar flow.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Hirth, J. P. & Lothe, J. Theory of Dislocations (Krieger, Malabar, Florida, 1992).
Hähner, P., Bay, K. & Zaiser, M. Fractal dislocation patterning during plastic deformation. Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 2470–2473 (1998).
Zaiser, M., Bay, K. & Hähner, P. Fractal analysis of deformation-induced dislocation patterns. Acta Mater. 47, 2463–2476 (1999).
Lepinoux, J. & Kubin, L. P. The dynamic organization of dislocation structures: A simulation. Scr. Metall. 21, 833–838 (1987).
Amodeo, R. J. & Ghoniem, N. M. Dislocation dynamics. I. A proposed methodology for deformation micromechanics. Phys. Rev. B 41, 6958–6967 (1990).
Groma, I. & Pawley, G. S. Computer simulation of plastic behaviour of single crystals. Phil. Mag. A 67, 1459–1470 (1993).
Fournet, R. & Salazar, J. M. Formation of dislocation patterns: Computer simulations. Phys. Rev. B 53, 6283–6290 (1996).
Gil Sevillano, J., Bouchaud, E. & Kubin, L. P. The fractal nature of gliding dislocation lines. Scr. Metall. Mater. 25, 355–360 (1991).
Thomson, R. & Levine, L. Theory of strain percolation in metals. Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 3884–3887 (1998).
Neuhäuser, H. in Dislocations in Solids (ed. Nabarro, F. R. N.) 319–440 (North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1983).
Becker, R. & Orowan, E. Über sprunghafte Dehnung von Zinkkristallen. Z. Phys. 79, 566–572 (1932).
Bengus, V. Z., Komnik, S. N. & Shititelman, O. B. Dislocation multiplication as a controlling factor of work-hardening. Phys. Stat. Sol. 14, 215–222 (1966).
Ananthakrishina, G. et al. Crossover from chaotic to self-organized critical dynamics in jerky flow of single crystals. Phys. Rev. E 60, 5455–5462 (1999).
Hähner, P. On the foundations of stochastic dislocation dynamics. Appl. Phys. A 62, 473–481 (1996).
Rouby, D., Fleischman, P. & Duvergier5, C. Un modèle de source d'émission acoustique pour l'analyse de l'émission continue et de l'émission par salves: I. Analyse théorique. Phil. Mag. A 47, 671–687 (1983).
Weiss, J. & Grasso, J. R. Acoustic emission in single crystals of ice. J. Phys. Chem. B 101, 6113–6117 (1997).
Weiss, J., Lahaie, F. & Grasso, J. R. Statistical analysis of dislocation dynamics during viscoplastic deformation from acoustic emission. J. Geophys. Res. 105, 433–442 (2000).
Duval, P., Ashby, M. F. & Andermann, I. Rate-controlling processes in the creep of polycrystalline ice. J. Phys. Chem. 87, 4066–4074 (1983).
Petrenko, V. F. & Whitworth, R. W. Structure of ordinary ice I h. Part II: Defects in ice. Vol. 2: Dislocations and plane defects. (US Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory Special Report 94-12, Hanover, New Hampshire, 1994).
Kardar, M. Nonequilibrium dynamics of interfaces and lines. Phys. Rep. 301, 85–112 (1998).
Jensen, H. J. Self-Organized Criticality (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1998).
Acknowledgements
We thank R. Pastor-Satorras, M. Rubí, A. Scala and M. Zaiser for useful discussions, and O. Brisaud, and F. Dominé for help in the preparation of single crystals. We acknowledge partial support from the European Network contract on “Fractal Structures and Self-organization”. J.W. is supported by the “Action thématique innovante” of Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers-CNRS. Acoustic emission monitoring devices were financed by Université Joseph Fourier.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Supplementary information
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Miguel, MC., Vespignani, A., Zapperi, S. et al. Intermittent dislocation flow in viscoplastic deformation. Nature 410, 667–671 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35070524
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35070524
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.