Microplastic deformation of polycrystals during cyclic loading

Abstract

A model of microplastic deformation of polycrystals during zero-start cyclic loading with tensions lower than the yield strength is proposed according to which during cycling, thermally activated movement of dislocations occurs under conditions of stress relaxation. Based on this model and the statistical theory of polycrystalline microdeformation, the accumulation of microplastic deformation is theoretically described as a function of the number of loading cycles and the stress amplitudes. It is theoretically proved that in the cycling process the microplastic deformation that accumulates over one cycle decreases as the number of cycles increases; up to the macroscopic elastic limit it is independent of the stress amplitude, and then sharply increases. Agreement of the theory with experimental data for spring alloys is observed in the density of mobile dislocations, which decreases during cycling.