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

将开展理论、计算和实验研究计划，以开发一个新的塑性框架，该框架将能够描述当存在高应变梯度的长度尺度太小而无法用传统的塑性连续统理论解释时的变形过程，但与相关微观结构(例如，位错结构或颗粒)的尺寸相比却很大。这项研究的重点将集中在含有弹性增强体(即金属基复合材料)的材料的流动强度，以及这些增强体在大范围尺寸范围内与基质流场相互作用的方式。

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.