Collective properties of defects, multiscale plasticity, and shock induced phenomena in solids

Abstract

A statistically based approach is developed for the construction of constitutive equations that provides linkages between defect-induced mechanisms of structural relaxation, thermally activated plastic flow, and material response to extreme loading conditions. The collective properties of defects have been studied to establish the interaction of multiscale defect dynamics and plastic flow, and to explain the mechanisms leading to the universal self-similar structure of shock wave fronts. Pn explanation for structural universality of the steady-state plastic shock front (the four power law) and the self-similarity of shock wave profiles under reloading (unloading) is proposed. Structural characterization under transition from thermally activated dislocation glide to nonlinear dislocation drag effects is developed in terms of scaling invariants (effective temperatures) related to mesodefect induced morphology formed during the different stages of plastic deformation.