anelasticity

In this paper a geometric field theory of dislocation dynamics and finite plasticity in single crystals is formulated. Starting from the multiplicative decomposition of the deformation gradient into elastic and plastic parts, we use Cartan's moving frames to describe the distorted lattice structure via differential 1-forms. In this theory the primary fields are the dislocation fields, defined as a collection of differential 2-forms. The defect content of the lattice structure is then determined by the superposition of the dislocation fields.

In linear elasticity, universal displacements for a given symmetry class are those displacements that can be maintained by only applying boundary tractions (no body forces) and for arbitrary elastic constants in the symmetry class. In a previous work, we showed that  the larger the symmetry group, the larger the space of universal displacements. Here, we generalize these ideas to the case of anelasticity. In linear anelasticity, the total strain is additively decomposed into elastic strain and anelastic strain, often referred to as an eigenstrain.

The recent literature of finite eignestrains in nonlinear elastic solids is reviewed, and Eshelby's inclusion problem at finite strains is revisited. The subtleties of the analysis of combinations of finite eigenstrains for the example of  combined finite radial, azimuthal, axial, and twist eigenstrains in a finite circular cylindrical bar are discussed. The stress field of a spherical inclusion with uniform pure dilatational eigenstrain in a radially-inhomogeneous spherical ball made of arbitrary incompressible isotropic solids is analyzed.

A central tool of nonlinear anelasticity is the multiplicative decomposition of the deformation tensor that assumes that the deformation gradient can be decomposed as a product of an elastic and an anelastic tensor. It is usually justified by the existence of an intermediate configuration. Yet, this configuration cannot exist in Euclidean space, in general, and the mathematical basis for this assumption is on unsatisfactory ground.

In this paper we are concerned with finding exact solutions for the stress fields of nonlinear solids with non-symmetric distributions of defects (or more generally finite eigenstrains) that are small perturbations of symmetric distributions of defects with known exact solutions. In the language of geometric mechanics this corresponds to finding a deformation that is a result of a perturbation of the metric of the Riemannian material manifold. We present a general framework that can be used for a systematic analysis of this class of anelasticity problems.

Guangming Cheng, Chunyang Miao, Qingquan Qin, Jing Li, Feng Xu, Hamed Haftbaradaran, Elizabeth C. Dickey, Huajian Gao & Yong Zhu Nature Nanotechnology 10, 687–691 (2015) doi:10.1038/nnano.2015.135