PHYSICAL MESOMECHANICS OF MATERIALS

The fundamentals of a new branch of science-physical mesomechanics of materials-are presented. In mesomechanics of materials, a loaded solid is interpreted as a multilevel self-organizing system. The development of plastic deformation in such systems is a self-sustained process involving successive loss of the shear stability on the micro-, meso-, and macrolevels. On the mesolevel, the carriers of plastic flow are three-dimensional structural elements (mesovolumes) the motion of which can be represented by a shear followed by a rotation. This leads to the fragmentation of the material. Fracture is the final stage of this fragmentation. At this stage, the fragmentation goes over from the mesolevel to the macrolevel and the global shear instability develops in the entire loaded material. The deformation mechanisms, strain carriers, and corresponding segments of the stress-strain curve are scale-invariant. A number of topical problems and fields of research in physical mesomechanics of materials are addressed.