Effects of size on the dynamics of dislocations in ice single crystals.

Single crystals of ice subjected to primary creep in torsion exhibit a softening behavior: the plastic strain rate increases with time. In a cylindrical sample, the size of the radius affects this response. The smaller the radius of the sample becomes while keeping constant the average shear stress across a section, the softer the response. The size-dependent behavior is interpreted by using a field dislocation theory, in terms of the coupled dynamics of excess screw dislocations gliding in basal planes and statistical dislocations developed through cross slip occurring in prismatic planes. The differences in the results caused by sample height effects and variations in the initial dislocation microstructure are discussed.

Comment on "Portevin-Le Chatelier effect".

Instabilities of plastic flow in alloys and the associated deformation patterns are currently attracting a lot of attention. We comment on a recent investigation by Franklin et al. [Phys. Rev. E 62, 8195 (2000)] on one such type of instability, the Portevin-Le Chatelier effect, attempting to clarify a few points about the instability mechanism as well as the reported experimental results.

Multifractal burst in the spatiotemporal dynamics of jerky flow.

The collective behavior of dislocations in jerky flow is studied in Al-Mg polycrystalline samples subjected to constant strain rate tests. Complementary dynamical, statistical, and multifractal analyses are carried out on the stress-time series recorded during jerky flow to characterize the distinct spatiotemporal dynamical regimes. It is shown that the hopping type B and the propagating type A bands correspond to chaotic and self-organized critical states, respectively. The crossover between these types of bands is identified by a large spread in the multifractal spectrum. These results are interpreted on the basis of competing scales and mechanisms.

Crossover from chaotic to self-organized critical dynamics in jerky flow of single crystals.

We report a crossover from chaotic to self-organized critical dynamics in the Portevin-Le Chatelier effect in single crystals of Cu-10% Al in tension as a function of the applied strain rate. For low and intermediate strain rates, we provide an unambiguous support for the existence of chaotic stress drops by showing the existence of a finite correlation dimension and a stable positive Lyapunov exponent. A surrogate data analysis rules out the possibility that the time series is due to a power law stochastic process. As the strain rate is increased, the distributions of stress drops and the time intervals between the stress drops change from peaked to power law type with an exponent close to unity reminiscent of self-organized critical state. A scaling relation compatible with self-organized criticality relates the various exponents. The absence of a finite correlation dimension and a stable positive Lyapunov exponent at the highest strain rate also supports the evidence of crossover.