Phase field dislocation dynamics (PFDD) modeling of non-Schmid behavior in BCC metals informed by atomistic simulations

H Kim and N Mathew and DJ Luscher and A Hunter, JOURNAL OF THE MECHANICS AND PHYSICS OF SOLIDS, 152, 104460 (2021).

DOI: 10.1016/j.jmps.2021.104460

Body-Centered Cubic (BCC) metals exhibit anomalous mechanical properties such as twinning/anti-twinning and tension/compression asymmetry, which are attributed to asymmetric behavior of screw dislocations. Unlike Face-Centered Cubic (FCC) metals, the Critical Resolved Shear Stress (CRSS) of BCC metals deviates from the Schmid law. We use a mesoscale modeling approach called Phase Field Dislocation Dynamics (PFDD) to understand the critical factors that control this non-Schmid behavior and reproduce atomistic predictions of the CRSS (Peierls stress). All inputs to the PFDD model are obtained from Molecular Statics (MS) simulations. Multiple pathways for modeling the non-Schmid behavior are investigated by incorporating the representative dislocation properties into different energy terms in the PFDD model. One way to understand non-Schmid behavior is to incorporate stress components projected on inclined planes into the external energy term within PFDD. Alternatively, we propose that non-Schmid behavior can also be accounted for by considering the variation of the 110 unstable stacking fault energy and the dislocation core width as a function of the applied tensorial stress field. The CRSS predicted using PFDD modeling is in excellent agreement with MS predictions.

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