A new approach was developed for the description of plastic deformation processes. According to this approach, the evolution of a dislocation ensemble was determined by both dislocation multiplication and dislocation transformation, with both processes occurring against a background of elastic stresses that were produced by the dislocation ensemble itself. As well as the detailed balancing equations that determined time changes in the densities of mobile (glissile) and immobile (sessile) dislocations, an equation was suggested which described the operation of dislocation sources. A new parameter was introduced that characterized the time of adjustment of the dislocation density to external stresses. Deformation curves were analyzed for various values of the system parameters, and the main features of plastic deformation for some materials were described. There was some sign of the non-monotonic behavior of deformation curves that was occasionally observed during the transition from elastic to plastic deformation.

Description of the Behavior of a Dislocation Ensemble with Allowance for Dislocation Multiplication. M.A.Ivanov, B.A.Greenberg, T.O.Barabash: Physics of Metals and Metallography, 1998, 86[3], 240-9