It was recalled that, when a metal crystal was plastically deformed, the applied stress and the dislocation density increased. The initial, almost random, distribution of dislocations resolved itself into one of a number of characteristic patterns. It was shown that, even in an extremely simplified model, pattern formation could arise purely kinematically; without explicit consideration of the energy, or purely energetically; assuming that the rate of formation of a pattern was proportional to the thermodynamic driving force for its formation. The latter model agreed satisfactorily with experiment.

Complementary Models of Dislocation Patterning. F.R.N.Nabarro: Philosophical Magazine A, 2000, 80[3], 759-64