It was noted that recent work had shown that the yield strength of metals increased steeply with decreasing sample size. It was found here that this sample-size effect could be explained almost completely by considering the stochastics of dislocation-source lengths in samples of finite size. The statistical first and second moments of the effective source length were derived as a function of the sample size. The sample strength deduced from this effective length compared well with available data.

Contribution to Size Effect of Yield Strength from the Stochastics of Dislocation Source Lengths in Finite Samples. T.A.Parthasarathy, S.I.Rao, D.M.Dimiduk, M.D.Uchic, D.R.Trinkle: Scripta Materialia, 2007, 56[4], 313-6