Effect of dislocation blocking on fracture behavior of Al and α-Fe:: a multiscale study

We use a multiscale approach in which results from atomistic simulations are combined with discrete dislocation (DD) dynamics simulations of crack-tip plasticity. The method is used to study the effects of dislocation blocking on the fracture behaviour of alpha-iron and aluminum. We studied the effects of blocking for distances ranging from 5 nm to 1 mm and find that the fracture resistance is increased with increasing blocking distance. The atomistic and dislocation dynamics simulations show that the blocking of dislocations causes a net decrease in the shear stress projected on the slip plane, preventing further dislocation emission. Semi-brittle cleavage occurs after a certain number of dislocations are emitted, explicitly demonstrating the embrittling effects of dislocation blocking. This effect can contribute to the brittle behaviour observed in some nanocrystalline metals. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.