Most people experiences the way objects plastically deform on a macroscopic scale. From a car crash to the bending of a paper clip plastic deformation occurs in the form of a smooth flow as a response of an applied stress. But due to the constant shrinking on the dimensions of mechanical devices -such as micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) and micro electronic interconnects- the notion that plasticity is governed not by a steady flow but by the occurrence of intermittent avalanches of defects moving through the material is gaining increasing attention.

To model the deformation of metallic materials at micron and submicron scales a continuum theory of dislocations is derived. We will introduce the MicroMechanics Simulation Tool a dislocation mechanics simulation tool for the prediction of plastic deformation of single crystals. We will show some simulations that show the formation of structures and their influence in macroscopic deformation as for example the dependence on the yield stress on the characteristic size of the sample.

NCN@Purdue Student Leadership Team,
Network for Computational Nanotechnology,
The Institute for Nanoelectronics and Computing

If you reference this work in a publication, please cite as follows:

• Koslowski, Marisol (2007), "Plastic Deformation at Micron and Submicron Scales," http://www.nanohub.org/resources/3559/.

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1. material science
2. multiscale models
3. nano electro-mechanical systems
4. tutorial