It was recalled that experimental evidence and recent molecular dynamics simulations of void growth had indicated that prismatic dislocation loop emission by externally applied stresses was a possible mechanism of void growth under shock-loading conditions when diffusive processes had no time to operate. The process of growth by loop emission was studied here for a model system which consisted of a void in an infinite linearly elastic and isotropic solid, loaded axisymmetrically by remote applied stresses. Firstly, the interaction between applied stresses, the stress field of a single dislocation loop or a pile-up of loops next to the void, the surface energy expenditure on void surface change, and the lattice resistance to the motion of loops was considered. The condition for interstitial loop emission was used to determine the equilibrium positions of loops, as well as the maximum number of loops in a pile-up under given applied stresses. For a model material under purely hydrostatic loading, the numerical results yielded a volume change for the void which, when normalized by the initial undeformed volume, exhibited a marked dependence upon the size of the void for radii less than some 400 times the lattice Burgers vector. For larger voids, the normalized volume change was independent of the void radius.

On the Micromechanics of Void Growth by Prismatic-Dislocation Loop Emission. D.C.Ahn, P.Sofronis, R.Minich: Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 2006, 54[4], 735-55