Plasticity in Heterogeneous Materials: Size Effects, Strain Gradients and Patterning

将进行理论、计算和实验研究计划，以开发一个新的塑性框架，当存在高应变梯度的长度尺度对于传统的连续介质塑性理论来说太小而无法解释时，该框架将能够描述变形过程，但与相关微观结构的尺寸相比(例如，位错结构或粒子)。本研究的主要重点将放在含有弹性增强材料（即金属基复合材料）的流动强度以及这些增强材料在大尺寸范围内与基体流场相互作用的方式上。

A theoretical, computational and experimental research program will be undertaken to develop a new framework for plasticity which will be capable of describing the deformation process when the length scale over which there are high strain gradients is too small for the conventional continuum theory of plasticity to explain, yet is large compared to the size of the relevant microstructure (e.g., dislocation structures or particles). The main focus of this investigation will be on the flow strength of materials containing elastic reinforcements (i.e., metal-matrix composites) and the manner in which these reinforcements interact with the matrix flow field over a wide range of size scales.