The influence of the interface stress on the interaction between an edge dislocation and a circular nano-scale inhomogeneity was investigated. The explicit solutions were given for stress fields and the image force acting on the edge dislocation. The impact of interface properties and the size of the inhomogeneity on the glide/climb force were evaluated. The results showed that the local hardening and softening effects at the interface of the nanoscale inhomogeneity due to the interface stress were remarkable and an additional repulsive/attractive force acting on the dislocation was produced. The normalized glide/climb force increased (decreased) with the decrease of the radius of the inhomogeneity, and the size dependence became significant when the radius of the inhomogeneity was reduced to the nm-scale which differed from the size-independent classical solutions. For some cases, the glide/climb of the edge dislocation near the nano-inhomogeneity could be more difficult because more equilibrium locations were present.

Size-Dependent Interaction between an Edge Dislocation and a Nanoscale Inhomogeneity with Interface Effects. Q.H.Fang, Y.W.Liu: Acta Materialia, 2006, 54[16], 4213-20