Quantification of Dislocation-Precipitate Interactions

Abstract: The present research is the first attempt to systematically quantify the dislocation-precipitate interaction in terms of applied shear stress, precipitate resistance, and the required time to reach the critical state of dislocation-precipitate interaction when a dislocation line is about to pass through precipitates. To model the dislocation-precipitate interaction, we adopt a modified three-dimensional dislocation dynamics. Using the present modeling approach, which employs three-dimensional dislocation dynamics simulations, we obtain thousands of data points, accounting for various precipitate resistances, applied shear stresses, and precipitate spacing. The material of reference is Copper (Cu). From the simulations, which quantify the dislocation-precipitate interaction in terms of the applied shear stress, precipitate resistance scale, and dislocation-precipitate interaction time, we found a universal equation. The dislocation-precipitate interaction time versus precipitate resistance and stress, referred to as the "dislocation-precipitate interaction map," determines the "pass" or "no-pass" state of the interaction. Using this map, we incorporate the dislocation-precipitate interaction time in a two-dimensional multiscale framework which adopts the dislocation dynamics approach at the micro-scale and the finite element method at the macro-scale. We use this framework to model the mechanical behavior of free-standing copper thin films. The results show a dual effect of the dislocation-precipitate interaction time on the hardening level.