The mechanisms of dislocation intersection and strain hardening in face-centered cubic crystals were examined with emphasis on the process of junction formation and destruction. Large-scale 3D simulations of dislocation dynamics were performed yielding access for the first time to statistically averaged quantities. These simulations provided a parameter-free estimate of the dislocation microstructure strength and of its scaling law. It was shown that forest hardening was dominated by short-range elastic processes and was insensitive to the detail of the dislocation core structure.

From Dislocation Junctions to Forest Hardening. R.Madec, B.Devincre, L.P.Kubin: Physical Review Letters, 2002, 89[25], 255508 (4pp)