During plastic flow of crystalline solids, dislocations self-organize in the form of patterns, with a wavelength that was inversely proportional to stress. After four decades of investigations, the origin of this property was still under discussion. It was shown that dislocation patterns which confirmed the principle of similitude could be obtained from dynamics simulations of double-slip. These patterns were formed in the presence of long- and short-range interactions, but were not significantly modified when short-range interactions alone were present. This insight into dislocation patterning had important implications for current models.

Dislocation Patterns and the Similitude Principle - 2.5D Mesoscale Simulations. D.Gómez-García, B.Devincre, L.P.Kubin: Physical Review Letters, 2006, 96[12], 125503 (4pp)