A unified physically based microstructural representation of face-centered cubic crystalline materials, was developed such that evolving microstructural behaviour at different physical scales could be accurately predicted. This microstructural framework was based on coupling a multiple-slip crystal plasticity formulation to three distinct dislocation densities, which pertain to statistically stored dislocations, geometrically necessary dislocations, and grain boundary dislocations. This interrelated dislocation-density formulation was then used with specialized finite-element modelling techniques to predict the evolving heterogeneous microstructure and the localized phenomena that could contribute to failure initiation as a function of inelastic deformation.

Microstructural Modelling in FCC Crystalline Materials in a Unified Dislocation-Density Framework. O.Rezvanian, M.A.Zikry, A.M.Rajendran: Materials Science and Engineering A, 2008, 494[1-2], 80-5