Dominique Mazière - Böcker

The various scales of the physical phenomena occurring during plastic flow are reviewed from the atomic level to the constitutive laws, from both theoretical and experimental sides. The fundamentals of plastic flow are revisited, revealing the impact of recent experimental breakthroughs on the theoretical formulation. New developments (constrained plasticity, indentation) are also addressed. The importance of atomic scale phenomena on macroscopic mechanical behaviour are demonstrated in the case of cross-slip and its influence on fatigue properties, and in the effect of hydrogen on ductility. These developments emphasize the importance of the numerical methods used to connect the various scales and show that much remains to be done in this area. Classical fundamental problems, such as the brittle to ductile transition, are described by both experimentalists and theoreticians, as are constrained and heterogeneous deformation.

The various scales of the physical phenomena occurring during plastic flow are reviewed from the atomic level to the constitutive laws, from both theoretical and experimental sides. The fundamentals of plastic flow are revisited, revealing the impact of recent experimental breakthroughs on the theoretical formulation. New developments (constrained plasticity, indentation) are also addressed. The importance of atomic scale phenomena on macroscopic mechanical behaviour are demonstrated in the case of cross-slip and its influence on fatigue properties, and in the effect of hydrogen on ductility. These developments emphasize the importance of the numerical methods used to connect the various scales and show that much remains to be done in this area. Classical fundamental problems, such as the brittle to ductile transition, are described by both experimentalists and theoreticians, as are constrained and heterogeneous deformation.

The physical properties of materials relay phenomena occurring at different space and time scales, ranging from nanometers to centimeters and from femtoseconds to seconds. This immediately illustrates the fundamental difficulty of establishing a connection between material behaviour at the microscopic level, where it needs to be understood, and macroscopic properties that need to be predicted. This book is a comprehensive assessment of the various theoretical and numerical methods currently in use to investigate microstructural transformations and mechanical properties of inhomogeneous systems, from the atomic scale to the macroscopic: kinetic mean-field theories, Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations, Ginzburg-Landau and phase field methods as applied to plasticity and microstructure transformation, discrete and stochastic dislocation dynamics, and cluster dynamics.Extensive surveys of major physical processes include: solidification; microstructural evolution in single and polycrystalline systems under internal and applied stress; high temperature plasticity; recrystallization; large plastic strain in multiphase systems; fatigue; fracture; diffusive transformations; and fine grained materials.

The physical properties of materials relay phenomena occurring at different space and time scales, ranging from nanometers to centimeters and from femtoseconds to seconds. This immediately illustrates the fundamental difficulty of establishing a connection between material behaviour at the microscopic level, where it needs to be understood, and macroscopic properties that need to be predicted. This book is a comprehensive assessment of the various theoretical and numerical methods currently in use to investigate microstructural transformations and mechanical properties of inhomogeneous systems, from the atomic scale to the macroscopic: kinetic mean-field theories, Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations, Ginzburg-Landau and phase field methods as applied to plasticity and microstructure transformation, discrete and stochastic dislocation dynamics, and cluster dynamics.Extensive surveys of major physical processes include: solidification, microstructural evolution in single and polycrystalline systems under internal and applied stress, high temperature plasticity, recrystallization, large plastic strain in multiphase systems, fatigue, fracture, diffusive transformations, and fine grained materials.

Global warming, shortage of low-cost oil resources and the increasing demand for energy are currently controlling the world's economic expansion while often opposing desires for sustainable and peaceful development. In this context, atomic energy satisfactorily fulfills the criteria of low carbon gas production and high overall yield. However, in the absence of industrial fast-breeders the use of nuclear fuel is not optimal, and the production of high activity waste materials is at a maximum. These are the principal reasons for the development of a new, fourth generation of nuclear reactors, minimizing the undesirable side-effects of current nuclear energy production technology while increasing yields by increasing operation temperatures and opening the way for the industrial production of hydrogen through the decomposition of water.The construction and use of such reactors is hindered by several factors, including performance limitations of known structural materials, particularly if the life of the projected systems had to extend over the periods necessary to achieve low costs (at least 60 years).This book collects lectures and seminars presented at the homonymous NATO ASI held in autumn 2007 at the Institut d’Etudes Scientifiques in Cargèse, France. The adopted approach aims at improving and coordinating basic knowledge in materials science and engineering with specific areas of condensed matter physics, the physics of particle/matter interaction and of radiation damage. It is our belief that this methodology is crucially conditioning the development and the industrial production of new structural materials capable of coping with the requirements of these future reactors.