It was recalled that experiments had revealed an unexpectedly strong size-effect in uniaxial compression tests of metallic micro-pillars; such as flow-stress increases with decreasing pillar diameter. Three-dimensional discrete dislocation dynamics was apply here in order to simulate these experiments at a mesoscopic level. Although systems with a constant source size and density were simulated, the simulations revealed a size effect which was related to size-dependent differences in the details of the dislocation behaviour; in excellent agreement with experiment.

Discrete Dislocation Simulations of the Plasticity of Micro-Pillars under Uniaxial Loading. J.Senger, D.Weygand, P.Gumbsch, O.Kraft: Scripta Materialia, 2008, 58[7], 587-90