An attempt was made to introduce a thermodynamic classification for the dislocation structures which were produced by cyclic deformation. A fundamental division into two classes was proposed for all types of dislocation structure. One class comprised those in equilibrium while the other comprised strongly non-equilibrium self-organized dislocation structures. It was shown that the concept of low-energy dislocation structures could be applied to dislocation structures of the first type, while the concept of self-organized dislocation structures was useful in situations which were related to the onset of fatigue instabilities (formation of ladder structures of persistent slip bands, dislocation rearrangement associated with strain bursts during cyclic deformation). It was pointed out that the issue of dislocation patterning in fatigued metals should be considered to be a part of the general problem of non-linear dynamical systems which operated under far-from-equilibrium conditions.

Self-Organized Dislocation Structures in Fatigued Metals. M.Glazov, L.M.Llanes, C.Laird: Physica Status Solidi A, 1995, 149[1], 297-321