The observed inverse grain size strain-rate dependence in columnar structures could be explained in terms of a geometrical argument which applied when a dislocation traversed the entire grain. Also addressed were the differences in dislocation activity in a 2-dimensional columnar, and a full 3-dimensional nanostructure geometry.

Length Scale Effects in the Simulation of Deformation Properties of Nanocrystalline Metals. P.M.Derlet, H.Van Swygenhoven: Scripta Materialia, 2002, 47[11], 719-24