Statistical thermodynamics of dislocations in solids

Abstract

The thermodynamic dislocation theory (TDT) is based on two fundamental but unconventional assumptions: first, that the dislocations in a persistently deforming crystalline solid must obey the second law of thermodynamics and thus be described by an effective temperature; and second, that the controlling time scale for deformation of these systems is the inverse of the thermally activated rate at which entangled dislocation lines become unpinned from each other. By use of these first-principles concepts and comparisons with experimental data, I show that this theory achieves new, usefully predictive understandings of strain hardening, yield stresses, shear banding, and brittle and ductile fracture. I argue that it opens new directions for research.