Microplasticity and Failure of Metallic Materials: (Materials Science Monographs)

The effective utilization of energy, raw materials, metals and manpower in a dynamically developing society calls for the development of materials of unconventional properties and for high endurance and reliability in operation. The responses of various materials to unidirectional or repeated mechanical stress has already been examined, estimated, classified and quantified for more than two centuries. In spite of this, it is not possible at present to generalize the sophisticated processes occurring in the microplasticity and failure of materials. However, it is possible to offer a more or less compact physico-metallurgical interpretation of such limiting states as plastic flow and material failure. The better utilization of latent properties requires thorough knowledge of the physical essence of the critical processes occurring in materials under mechanical loading. This book makes use of the accumulated knowledge of elementary processes in microplasticity and failure, complemented by the latest knowledge from the world literature and by the results the author and his collaborators have obtained. No publication to date provides such data in one volume.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction. Methodology and treatment of the problem. The limiting state of materials. 2. The Physical Basis of Plastic Deformation. Plastic deformation of crystalline substances. Strain-hardening and its propagation in materials. Maps of strain mechanisms and changes of characteristics after deformation. Increase of material resistance to strain. 3. Microplasticity Under Unidirectional Loading. Anisotropy, heterogeneity and localization of strain. The phenomenology of microplasticity under static load. Mechanisms and heat activation of microplasticity. Models of polycrystal microstrain. 4. Microplasticity Under Fluctuating Load. The substance of cyclic microplasticity. The detection of cyclic microplasticity. The effect of external and internal factors. Changes in material properties and substructure. 5. Failure and Fracture Under Unidirectional Load. Theoretical strength, the origin and propagation of microcracks. Basic types of failure. The real strength of crystals. Material transition from the brittle to the tough state. Approaches of fracture mechanics. Maps of fracture mechanisms and real fractures. 6. Failure and Fracture Under Fluctuating Load. Phenomenology of the fatigue process. Origin and propagation of fatigue cracks. Fatigue life. Effects on failure dynamics. 7. Conclusion. References. Subject index. List of symbols.