a b s t r a c tDislocation motion in body centered cubic (bcc) metals displays a number of specific features that result in a strong temperature dependence of the flow stress, and in shear deformation asymmetries relative to the loading direction as well as crystal orientation. Here we develop a generalized dislocation mobility law in bcc metals, and demonstrate its use in discrete Dislocation Dynamics (DD) simulations of plastic flow in tungsten (W) micro pillars. We present the theoretical background for dislocation mobility as a motivating basis for the developed law. Analytical theory, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and experimental data are used to construct a general phenomenological description. The usefulness of the mobility law is demonstrated through its application to modeling the plastic deformation of W micro pillars. The model is consistent with experimental observations of temperature and orientation dependence of the flow stress and the corresponding dislocation microstructure.

Crystal plasticity is mediated through dislocations, which form knotted configurations in a complex energy landscape. Once they disentangle and move, they may also be impeded by permanent obstacles with finite energy barriers or frustrating long-range interactions. The outcome of such complexity is the emergence of dislocation avalanches as the basic mechanism of plastic flow in solids at the nanoscale. While the deformation behavior of bulk materials appears smooth, a predictive model should clearly be based upon the character of these dislocation avalanches and their associated strain bursts. We provide here a comprehensive overview of experimental observations, theoretical models and computational approaches that have been developed to unravel the multiple aspects of dislocation avalanche physics and the phenomena leading to strain bursts in crystal plasticity.

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We demonstrate, through three-dimensional discrete dislocation dynamics simulations, that the complex dynamical response of nano- and microcrystals to external constraints can be tuned. Under load rate control, strain bursts are shown to exhibit scale-free avalanche statistics, similar to critical phenomena in many physical systems. For the other extreme of displacement rate control, strain burst response transitions to quasiperiodic oscillations, similar to stick-slip earthquakes. External load mode control is shown to enable a qualitative transition in the complex collective dynamics of dislocations from self-organized criticality to quasiperiodic oscillations.

Through three-dimensional discrete dislocation dynamics simulations, we show that by tuning the mode of external loading, the collective dynamics of dislocations undergo a transition from driven avalanches under stress control to quasi-periodic oscillations under strain control. We directly correlate measured intermittent plastic events with internal dislocation activities and collective dynamics. Under different loading modes, the role of the weakest dislocation source and the defect population trend are significantly different. This finding raises new possibilities of controlling correlated dislocation activities, and obtaining low defect density in nano-structured devices by tuning external constraints. In addition, the effect of machine stiffness comes to light. The statistical analysis on the burst magnitude is revisited and carefully discussed. Self-organized criticality and scale-free statistics of strain bursts are obeyed under stress control. However, this behavior is shown to break down under strain control. Rapid stress drops under pure strain control force truncation of dislocations avalanches, leading to a dynamical transition to quasi-periodic oscillations.2