lengthscale dependent plasticity

The Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh anticipates an opening for a postdoctoral associate starting September 2010. The position’s primary area of research will focus on mechanics of the microforming processes and characterizing the thermomechanics of deformation at micrometer length-scales.

See an accompanying powerpoint presentation: The aged-rejuvenation-glue-liquid (ARGL) shear band model has been proposed for bulk metallic glasses (Acta Mater. 54 (2006) 4293), based on small-scale molecular dynamics simulations and thermomechanical analysis. The model predicts the existence of a critical lengthscale ~100 nm and timescale ~100 ps, above which melting occurs in shear-alienated glass. Large-scale molecular dynamics simulations with up to 5 million atoms have directly verified these predictions. When the applied stress exceeds the glue traction (computed separately before), we indeed observe maturation of the shear band embryo into bona fide shear crack, accompanied by melting.