Reassessment of dynamic thermomechanical conversion in metals by J. C. Nieto-Fuentes, S. Osovski, A. Venkert and D. Rittel

The Taylor-Quinney coefficient is universally understood as a manifestation of the stored energy of cold work, and one therefore assumes a one to one correspoindence between its value and the microstructural state of the deformed material. In the attached letter (to appear in Phys Rev Letters), we question this assumption by bringing new experimental evidence that the thermomechanical conversion is a function of the kinetics of the process and not of the final microstructure only. In other words, equilibrium thermodynamics do not adequately represent the TQF, and more experimental/modelling work is now needed to understand the realy source of the Taylor-Quinney conversion factor.