Multi-scale modeling of solute atom strengthening using 3D discrete dislocation dynamics

Discrete dislocation dynamics (DDD) codes enable researchers and scientists to explore the mechanical behavior of a material as impacted by its composition and microstructure. Understanding the strengthening mechanisms is very important for the development of new materials with improved and desired mechanical properties. One of the material strengthening/hardening mechanisms is solution hardening, and this method can be fundamentally understood from particle misfit models and the theory/implementation of dislocation dynamics. The overlapping of the eigenstrain fields of the misfit particles or solutes and the dislocations impedes the motion of dislocations and results in material hardening. This article incorporates the misfit particle model in a 3D DDD code in an attempt to capture this phenomenon and find the strength of solid solutions (for a binary Cu-Ni system) from the simulated stress-strain diagram. This study/research finds a good agreement between the simulation results and experimental data. The authors also correlate the strength differentials as a function of solute concentrations and compare them with relations in the literature.

Automated summary

Discrete dislocation dynamics (DDD) codes allow researchers to study the mechanical behavior of materials based on their composition and microstructure. This article incorporates a misfit particle model into a 3D DDD code to investigate the strength of solid solutions and compares the results with experimental data. The study finds good agreement between simulation and experimental results, and explores the relationship between strength differentials and solute concentrations.