Discrete dislocation dynamics modelling of microvoid growth and its intrinsic mechanism in single crystals

In the present paper, an infinite face-centered cubic single crystal containing an isolated cylindrical micron-sized void, which is subjected to proportional and monotonically uniform equal biaxial tension loading, is adopted to study the scale-dependent void growth and its intrinsic mechanism by employing a two-dimensional planar discrete dislocation dynamic framework. First, a typical dislocation distribution near the microvoid is presented and the void growth mechanism is revealed by dislocation shear loop expansion for each of three typical fcc slip systems. The effect of size on void growth is then investigated. The general conclusion that voids at the micron or submicron scale are less susceptible to growth than larger ones is drawn. Another result, which cannot be deduced from the continuum theories, is also achieved: at the micron or submicron scale, larger voids grow smoothly with remote strain, while smaller voids usually grow in a “leapfrog” manner. Specifically, when the void is even smaller, it grows in an approximately linear-elastic manner since only few dislocations are present around the void. Further analyses indicate that these size effects are closely related to the dislocation density on the void surface and the dislocation mobility around the void. Finally, the influences of the dislocation sources/obstacles density and their random distribution in materials on the void growth are studied briefly. Results show that there exists remarkable scatter in the microvoid growth due to random distribution of the dislocation sources or obstacles, especially for voids at the submicron scale. These results are helpful for us in understanding the size-dependent damage mechanism at the micron or submicron scale.