Micropolar crystal plasticity simulation of particle strengthening

The yield and work hardening behavior of a small-scale initial-boundary value problem involving dislocation plasticity in an idealized particle strengthened system is investigated using micropolar single crystal plasticity and is compared with results for the same problem from dislocation dynamics simulations. A micropolar single crystal is a work-conjugate higher-order continuum that treats the lattice rotations as generalized displacements, and supports couple stresses that are work-conjugate to the lattice torsion-curvature, leading to a non-symmetric Cauchy stress. The resolved skew-symmetric component of the Cauchy stress tensor results in slip system level kinematic hardening during heterogeneous deformation that depends on gradients of lattice torsion-curvature. The scale-dependent mechanical response of the micropolar single crystal is dictated both by energetic (higher-order elastic constants) and dissipative (plastic torsion-curvature) intrinsic material length scales. We show that the micropolar model captures essential details of the average stress-strain behavior predicted by discrete dislocation dynamics and of the cumulative slip and dislocation density fields predicted by statistical dislocation dynamics.