To investigate the barrier effect of grain boundaries on the propagation of avalanche-like plasticity at the atomic-scale, we perform three-dimensional molecular dynamics simulations by using simplified polycrystal models including symmetric-tilt grain boundaries. The cut-offs of stress-drop distributions following power-law distributions decrease as the size of the crystal grains decreases. We show that some deformation avalanches are confined by grain boundaries; on the other hand, unignorable avalanches penetrate all the grain boundaries included in the models. The blocking probability that one grain boundary hinders this system-spanning avalanche is evaluated by using an elemental probabilistic model.A new insight into crystalline plasticity has been provided from non-equilibrium physics at the beginning of the century. Discontinuous, stick-slip plastic deformation, referred to as intermittent plasticity, has been revealed as an intrinsic nature of plasticity in crystalline solids [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] ; the probability of a deformation event with a magnitude s follows a power-law distribution, P(s) ∝ s −β , where β is a constant. This power-law distribution is a fingerprint of the presence of non-equilibrium critical phenomena especially self-organized criticality 9,10 . A combination of acoustic emission measurements and numerical simulations using discrete-dislocation dynamics have revealed that the power-law behavior of plasticity is caused by avalanches of dislocation motions 2,6 . The acoustic emission measurements in the creep of polycrystal ices have indicated that grain boundaries (GBs), i.e., interfaces between crystal grains, can act as obstacles to the avalanches 11,12 . Louchet et al. have introduced a new concept regarding the plastic deformation of polycrystals, which is one of the most fundamental subjects in material science; polycrystal yielding occurs when the avalanche transmits across GBs and percolates through the material 13 . Thus, the elucidation of the interaction between GBs and avalanches of plasticity would advance our understanding regarding the features of plastic deformation of polycrystals, in particular, the grain size dependence of plastic yielding [14][15][16] . The interaction between single dislocations and GBs has been extensively investigated [17][18][19] , but the quantification of the interaction between avalanches of dislocations is still quite preliminary. The consequence of the avalanche statistics by GBs has been discussed through discrete-dislocation dynamics 20 . However, the dislocation-GB interaction is truly atomic-scale dynamics. Therefore, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for this issue are desperately needed to provide a correct description and quantification of the interaction. Recently, intermittent plasticity in single crystals has been successfully reproduced by MD simulations 21,22 . However, intermittent plasticity in polycrystals remains unaddressed.In this study, by performing MD simulations with polycrystal models consisting of some symmetr...