Thermally activated dislocation glide through a random array of point obstacles: Computer simulation

Abstract

This paper reports results obtained through computer simulation of the thermally activated glide of an idealized dislocation through a random array of point obstacles. The array size is fixed at 999, and the dislocation‐obstacle interaction is taken to have a simple step form. The variables governing glide are then the resolved shear stress, the temperature, and the obstacle strength, which may be phrased as dimensionless parameters. The principal subjects studied are (1) the stress required for athermal glide at a given obstacle strength and the characteristics of the obstacle configurations which determine this stress, (2) the glide path taken by the configuration and the characteristics of the obstacle configurations encountered along this glide path, (3) the velocity of glide and its dependence on the stress, the temperature, and the obstacle strength.