Temperature and high strain rate dependence of tensile deformation behavior in single-crystal iron from dislocation dynamics simulations

We conduct dislocation dynamics simulations of Fe periodic single crystals under tensile load at several high strain rates and temperatures. The simulations are connected to the atomistic scale via recently developed, temperature-dependent dislocation mobility relations. We explore strain rates from 104 to 106s-1 at temperatures of 100, 300 and 600 K. We compute the flow stress as a function of strain rate and temperature, and find very good agreement with experimental data for Fe, suggesting that strain hardening is the dominant materials response mechanism in the range of conditions explored here.