Effect of dislocation blocking on fracture behavior of Al and α-Fe: a multiscale study

We use a multiscale approach in which results from atomistic simulations are combined with discrete dislocation (DD) dynamics simulations of crack-tip plasticity. The method is used to study the effects of dislocation blocking on the fracture behavior of α-iron and aluminum. We studied the effects of blocking for distances ranging from 5 nm to 1 mm and find that the fracture resistance is increased with increasing blocking distance. The atomistic and dislocation dynamics simulations show that the blocking of dislocations causes a net decrease in the shear stress projected on the slip plane, preventing further dislocation emission. Semi-brittle cleavage occurs after a certain number of dislocations are emitted, explicitly demonstrating the embrittling effects of dislocation blocking. This effect can contribute to the brittle behavior observed in some nanocrystalline metals.