Viscoplasticity of metals: comments on dislocation density models
M. Hütter

Department of Materials, Polymer Physics, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Abstract: The evolution of mobile and immobile (forest) dislocations strongly affects the viscoplastic behavior of crystalline metals. In this contribution, a class of coarse-grained dynamic models for the dislocation densities is examined from the perspective of nonequilibrium thermodynamics. Particularly, analogies and differences to chemical reactions are discussed, and the thermodynamic driving forces for the different kinetic processes are identified. Finally, we address some points that are critical for linking such a description to the atomistic and the macroscopic levels.