Kinetic mechanism of the electroplastic effect in metals

Abstract

A new mechanism of electroplastic deformation is proposed, which is based on nonequilibrium fluctuations of dislocation vibrations due to the interaction between dislocations and hot electrons. It is shown that, when an electric current flows through a metal, the average energy of dislocation vibrations differs from that corresponding to the lattice temperature. As a result, the frequency of fluctuation-induced jumps of dislocations over obstacles increases.