Geometrically necessary dislocation and size-dependent plasticity

There has recently been a strong interest in modeling size-dependent plasticity in metals based on the concept of geometrically necessary dislocations. This article presents a brief summary of our viewpoints on geometrically necessary dislocations and their role in the development of continuum plasticity theories with an intrinsic material length scale. (C) 2002 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.