The stress statistics of the first pop-in or intermittent plastic event in cyrstal plasticity

Abstract

The first plastic event occurring in discrete intermittent plasticity, as for example a pop-in seen in nano-indentation, is evaluated with extreme value statistics. It is found that when the same deformation is repeated many times, the average of the stress at this first event is related to the deforming volume via an exponentially truncated power-law. The present work demonstrates this trend and the expected Weibull fluctuation around it. The statistical formalism is shown to apply to the nano-indentation data of Morris {\em et al}, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 165502 (2011), as well as to dislocation dynamics simulations, which suggests a general phenomenon is at play. The truncated power law is found to uniquely determine an underlying critical stress master probability density function in terms of the Lambert-W function and the density of discrete plastic events available to the crystal. Thus the developed procedure allows for a quantitative characterization of a bulk material's initial microstructure via a deformation experiment that probes discrete intermittent plasticity.