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Second-order crystal plasticity: internal stress effects and cyclic loading

This article has been downloaded from IOPscience. Please scroll down to see the full text article. 2007 Modelling Simul. Mater. Sci. Eng. 15 S133 (http://iopscience.iop.org/0965-0393/15/1/S12) View the table of contents for this issue, or go to the journal homepage for more

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INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS PUBLISHING

MODELLING AND SIMULATION IN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING doi:10.1088/0965-0393/15/1/S12

Modelling Simul. Mater. Sci. Eng. 15 (2007) S133S145

Second-order crystal plasticity: internal stress effects and cyclic loading

M G D Geers1 , W A M Brekelmans1 and C J Bayley1,2
1 Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, PO Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands 2 Netherlands Institute for Metals Research, Mekelweg 2, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands

E-mail: m.g.d.geers@tue.nl

Received 14 June 2006, in nal form 20 July 2006 Published 7 December 2006 Online at stacks.iop.org/MSMSE/15/S133 Abstract This paper studies dislocation induced internal stresses as introduced in a strain gradient crystal plasticity approach. The need for a second-order crystal plasticity approach is motivated in the context of the analysis of free-standing metal lms used in radio-frequency micro-electro-mechanical systems (RFMEMS). The presented second-order framework incorporates the inuence of inter- and intragranular deformation inhomogeneities in the constitutive description, generally assumed to be the basic origin of scale dependent behaviour and associated size effects. Focusing on the dynamic loading of thin RF-MEMS lms, attention is given to dislocation induced kinematical hardening effects. The corresponding internal stresses are discussed with respect to their contribution to the solution of the underlying elasto-plastic framework which implicitly accounts for elastic incompatibilities. Within the loading regime of interest, the response in loadingunloadingreloading and cyclic loading is assessed. (Some gures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)

1. Introduction The ongoing miniaturization in the micro-electronics and micro-devices industry, triggers an increasing need for predictive tools that enable accurate assessments of the reliability and lifetime of devices. Furthermore, the intimate relation between performance and the underlying microstructure in such small devices calls for a proper understanding of the inuence of processing steps. In the context of the present paper, free-standing metallic lms are of interest, as used in e.g. RF-MEMS (radio frequency micro-electro-mechanical systems). Typical RF-MEMS
3

Now at Defence Research Development Canada. 2007 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK S133

0965-0393/07/010133+13$30.00

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Figure 1. Tuneable RF-MEMS capacitor (courtesy of Philips).

Figure 2. Cantilever MEMS beam after indentation, with a Berkovich indenter print (courtesy of Philips).

components include switches, resonators and variable capacitors. An example of such a freestanding metal lm is shown in gure 1. A tuneable parallel plate capacitor is shown, consisting of a silicon substrate and an Al-based metal lm suspended over an air gap, which acts as the dielectric layer. The typical lateral dimensions of the device are 500 m 500 m, the typical lm thickness is 5 m and the air gap height is typically 3 m. Such lms consist of rather large grains compared with the characteristic dimensions of the device and a pronounced inuence of the processed microstructure is therefore expected. The experimental analysis of these lms is presently carried out on test structures (double-clamped beams, cantilevers, etc) processed in exactly the same manner as the device. These structures are then subjected to indentation testing or electrostatic loading. A typical example of the result after an indentation test is shown in gure 2. The gure depicts the deformed topology of a cantilever beam after indentation, thereby clearly revealing permanent deections and an imprint of the Berkovich indenter. The beam structure also clearly reveals the grains in the sample, which are relatively large and mostly columnar through the thickness. The essential question arises on how to properly characterize these MEMS structures, particularly if the underlying granular microstructure is substantially affecting the plastic and fatigue behaviour. It was already illustrated in (Geers et al 2006) that this calls for a crystal

Crystal plasticity: internal stress effects and cyclic loading

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Figure 3. Dislocation density based strain gradient crystal plasticity framework.

plasticity model to adequately capture the statistical size effects involved. Several candidate crystal plasticity approaches are available today, among which are some recent advanced models (Forest et al 2000, Acharya et al 2003, Evers et al 2004a, 2004b, Ma and Roters 2004, Gurtin 2002, Gurtin and Anand 2005, Han et al 2005, Yemov and van der Giessen 2005a, Bayley et al 2006, Levkovitch and Svendsen 2006). Essential for the application of interest, is the incorporation of kinematical hardening. Here too, several models have been proposed. Note that in spite of the fact that some models have been derived from a thermodynamical perspective (e.g. Gurtin (2002)) and others from a physical perspective (e.g. Evers et al (2004a)), strong analogies may exist as emphasized by Kuroda and Tvergaard (2006). Since many of the RF-MEMS devices relying on a free-standing metal lm are dynamically loaded (through electro-static actuation), further attention will be given here to the loading unloading behaviour and cyclic response based on a recently developed strain gradient crystal plasticity model (Evers et al 2004a, 2004b, Bayley et al 2006). This contribution thereby focuses on three important aspects: (1) the intrinsic role of the dislocation induced stress, entering the eld equations as a back stress; a proper discussion in relation to the elastic incompatibility problem (Mura 1963, Kr oner 1981) is thereby necessary; (2) the loading unloading response and kinematical hardening in relation to the number of slip systems considered; and (3) the cyclic loading response. 2. Strain gradient crystal plasticity 2.1. Outline of the model The applied strain gradient crystal plasticity approach deals with a continuum dislocation eld description of the crystallographic glide processes, in which different driving forces and sources of slip resistance are implicitly accounted for. The outline of the model is sketched in gure 3. Plastic deformation is essentially resolved from the individual contributions at the slip system level. The total population of dislocations is used to assess short range interactions and corresponding resistances. Statistically stored dislocations (SSDs) are evolving as a result of slip through accumulation and annihilation. Geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs), accommodating lattice curvature, are evaluated at the slip system level. A dislocation induced stress eld is computed from them, which contributes to the effective stress that governs slip. Finally, grain boundaries can be handled as zones with obstructed slip and an initial GND

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density, obtained from the net Burgers vector needed to accommodate the misorientation between two neighbouring grains. The associated equations are summarized below. 2.2. Governing crystal plasticity equations The governing equations of the underlying crystal plasticity framework are essentially based on previous work (Evers et al 2002, 2004a, 2004b), and will therefore only be briey discussed. The deformation gradient tensor F is split into an elastic part Fe and a plastic part Fp , using the classical multiplicative decomposition, thereby retaining the lattice orientations. F = Fe Fp . (1) This split implicitly denes the intermediate conguration Bp , resulting from the plastic slip on all slip systems. Plastic deformation in the FCC lattice is resolved on the 12 octahedral slip systems {111} 110 , each ( = 1, 2, . . . , 12) characterized by the slip plane normal n and glide direction m (unit vectors). A second PiolaKirchhoff stress tensor SB is dened on the intermediate conguration, which is work-conjugated to the elastic GreenLagrange strain tensor Ee (also dened with respect to Bp ). The tensor SB can be obtained from the Kirchhoff stress tensor using a standard pull-back operation using Fe . The elastic response is described with respect to Bp applying a standard isotropic Hookean elastic constitutive relation: SB = 4C : Ee ,
4

(2)

where C represents the fourth-order elasticity tensor. p , determining the evoluton of Bp , is expressed in the The rate of the plastic deformation F plastic velocity gradient tensor Lp through p = Lp Fp . F (3) The plastic deformation rate is composed of the slip rates on all 12 crystallographic slip systems Lp =

P ,

= 1, 2, . . . , 12,

(4)

where P = m n is the non-symmetric Schmid tensor. An effective shear stress eff is dened on each slip system as the difference between the resolved shear stress = SB : P (i.e. the Schmid stress) and a slip system resolved back stress b .
= b . eff

(5)

The back stress, here dened as counteracting the resolved shear stress, constitutes an important feature of the present strain gradient crystal plasticity model, and will be addressed in more detail in the next section. Slip on each of the slip systems is characterized through a viscoplastic ow rule, given by
|eff |eff | 1/m | G0 1 sign(eff exp ), (6) kT s s in which s represents the slip resistance, k is Boltzmanns constant, T is the absolute temperature and G0 is the total free energy needed for thermal dislocation activation. Equation (6) introduces 2 additional material parameters: the reference plastic strain rate 0 and the rate sensitivity m.

= 0

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The slip system resistance s in (6) reects the obstruction of dislocation glide through short range interactions of all dislocations (i.e. SSDs and GNDs) on coplanar and intersecting slip systems by the expression s = cGb

A |SSD | +

A |GND |.

(7)

In here, A represents the full dislocation interaction matrix as given by Franciosi and Zaoui (1982), and Evers et al (2004b). The constant c in (7) ranges from 0.05 to 2.6, whereas G is the shear modulus and b is the length of the Burgers vector. In FCC metals, 12 edge SSD densities (SSD with = 1, 2, . . . , 12) are considered, whereas 12 edge and 6 screw GND densities (GND with = 1, 2, . . . , 18) are taken into account. The GND densities are directly computed from the gradient of the crystallographic slips (Evers et al 2004a, 2004b, Bayley et al 2006), whereby the obtained sign is representative for the polarity of the GNDs. The evolutions of the SSD densities are described by a generalized form according to Essmann and Mughrabi (1979), in which the dislocation accumulation is determined from the average dislocation segment length and in which the dislocation annihilation is governed by a critical annihilation length (see Evers et al (2004a, 2004b)). The incorporation of grain boundaries is twofold: (1) an initial GND density can be assigned to each internal grain boundary, which results from the net Burgers vector that represents the orientation mismatch between neighbouring grains; (2) the net normal slip at each grain boundary can be constrained to zero, which represents an impenetrable grain boundary. The initial GND density is an adequate geometrical representation of a low-angle boundary but evidently debatable for high-angle boundaries. A coupled boundary value problem is constructed from the weak forms of the equilibrium equations and the geometrical relations between GND densities (resolved as degrees-offreedom) and crystallographic slips (see Evers et al (2004a, 2004b)) for more details on the numerical issues.

3. Incorporation of dislocation induced internal stresses An approximate manner to incorporate internal stresses in a strain gradient crystal plasticity formulation is to compute the stress eld resulting from a patch of dislocations in an innite medium. Evidently, this approach is questionable in the neighbourhood of boundaries. In most practical cases, internal stresses will be evaluated at integration points, which are usually at a small distance from the element edges. Depending on the element size, this approximation is justied. In Bayley et al (2006), a profound analysis was made of the differences between the self back stress (considered by Evers et al (2004a, 2004b)) and a full internal stress. Here, the generalized crystallographic formulation for straight dislocations is given in direct relation to other approaches in the literature, whereby particular attention is given to the interpretation of the length scale involved. The basic reasoning behind the computation of the internal stress eld, is quite analogous to the handling of the stress elds in discrete dislocation approaches. Using the analytical solution of the stress elds for an individual dislocation, the collective contribution from all dislocations in any point of the body can be resolved through a straightforward summation process. For continuum dislocation elds, this discrete summation is naturally replaced by an integration process. The domain used for this integration process allows one to discriminate between a number of cases, as outlined below, each with a different degree of complexity.

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Making use of the well-known analytical expressions for the elastic stress elds due to straight dislocations in an innite medium, and making use of the vectors characterizing each of the slip systems, the internal stress can be determined. The internal stress contribution induced in a material point x caused by a screw dislocation density = 13, . . . , 18 in a point with position vector y is expressed by (making use of r = y x and p = m n ) d Sint (x, y) = GND (y)dS

Gb 2

(p m + m p )(r n ) (n m + m n )(r p ) , + [r p ]2 + [r n ]2 [r p ]2 + [r n ]2

(8)

where dS is an elementary surface of the considered slip plane for the dislocation density labelled . Likewise, the internal stress in x that results from an edge dislocation density = 1, . . . , 12 in point y is given by d Sint (x, y) = GND (y)dS

m m (r n )(3[r m ]2 + [r n ]2 ) Gb 2(1 ) ([r m ]2 + [r n ]2 )2

n n (r n )([r m ]2 [r n ]2 ) p p (r n ) + 2 2 2 2 ([r m ] + [r n ] ) [r m ]2 + [r n ]2 (m n + n m )(r m )([r m ]2 [r n ]2 ) . ([r m ]2 + [r n ]2 )2 (9)

The resulting internal stress in a point x is obtained by integrating all dislocation densities over their entire support and superposing the resultant stresses, i.e. Sint (x) =
S V

d Sint (x, y),

(10)

with V the domain of all material points. 3.1. The nite volume approximation Using an integration domain with a bounded support essentially results in the internal stress contribution as obtained by Evers et al (2004b), and Bayley et al (2006). To obtain the internal stress contributing to the driving force on a slip system, (Evers et al 2004a) considered contributions from the dislocation elds on the concerned slip system only (self internal stress). This was properly extended to all slip systems by Bayley et al (2006). A bounded cylindrical domain with radius R was used in each of the cases. In order to integrate the continuously distributed dislocation elds in a mathematically local manner, a spatial linearization of the dislocation eld is assumed. Considering e.g. a Cartesian basis, the density of the GNDs in a point y can be obtained by direct linearization of the dislocation density eld in x (i.e. truncated after the rst-order term): GND (y) = GND (x) + GND (x) r = GND (x) + GND (x) (m (r m ) + n (r n ) + p (r p )).

(11)

Substituting this linearized expression in the internal stress eld (10) for the edge case (9), integrating over a cylindrical domain (circular in 2D) with radius R , and taking into account that all odd terms in r vanish upon integration, gives after elaboration Sint (x) = GbR 2 8(1 )
12

GND [3n m m + n n n + 4 n p p m m n m n m ].
=1

(12)

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Likewise, the internal stress induced by the screw dislocation elds becomes Sint (x) = GbR 2 4
18

GND [n m p n p m + p m n + p n m ].
=13

(13)

Replacing the circular integration domain by a square domain (2R 2R), yields slightly different coefcients Sint (x) = GbR 2 2(1 )
12

GND [ n m m + (4 )n n n + 4 n p p
=1

+( 4)m m n + ( 4)m n m ] for the edge dislocations, and Sint (x) = GbR 2
18

(14)

GND [n m p n p m + p m n + p n m ]
=13

(15)

for the screw dislocations. 3.2. The nearest neighbour approximation A particular interesting case is obtained by taking the support of the evaluation volume equal to the GND dislocation spacing, i.e. R = 1/ . Evidently, this limiting case only makes sense in the context of an ensemble averaged continuum dislocation density. Resolving Sshear int (12) and (13) without the summation, whereby only the induced shear stress on a single slip system is considered, yields for the edge dislocations edge = Sint : m n = and for the screw dislocations
screw = Sint : m n =

Gb 8(1 Gb 4GND
)GND

( GND m )

(16)

( GND p ).

(17)

In this particular case, a physical meaning is attributed to the length scale parameter R , which results in an internal stress that reects the net contribution of the nearest (in the geometrically necessary continuum sense) dislocations only. Comparing this result to the back stress used by Yemov and van der Giessen (2005a, 2005b): b = Gb D( GND m ) 2(1 ) (18)

reveals interesting similarities and differences. Evidently, the sign of the internal stresses in (16) and (17) is opposite to the back stress, consistent with the implicit denition of the back stress in (5). Further comparison of the two equations, reveals that they are only slightly different in terms of the constants in front of the GND gradient, where D is usually taken close to or equal to 1. However, the dislocation density used in (18) is the total density, implying that the integration domain is in fact smaller than the one assumed in (16). Equation (16) provides a clear interpretation of the origin of the corresponding stress. Furthermore, the systematic procedure to extract the internal stress allows to incorporate all slip systems and all stress components, which was obviously ignored in (18), where the derivation of the back stress was carried out on statistical arguments rather than the deterministic approach adopted here.

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3.3. The fully nonlocal approximation Expanding the support of the integral in (10) over the entire domain, naturally results in a fully non-local integral, which has to be evaluated in each material point (or integration point in the numerical solution scheme). This procedure is rather close to the one used in 2D discrete dislocation simulations, where the contributions from all individual dislocations are also summed up over the entire domain. Note, that this procedure may nevertheless suffer from inaccuracies as the contributions from dislocations nearby the boundary, for which the analytical stress elds do not hold, will become substantial. In contradiction to discrete dislocation simulations, such an approach might conict with respect to the long range stresses that are already incorporated through the standard solution of the elasto-plastic problem. Based on the early work of Mura (1963), Willis (1967) and Kroner (1981), Acharya (2001, 2004) and Roy and Acharya (2005) have already emphasized that the dislocation induced incompatible elastic elds that emerge from a conventional elasto-plastic framework implicitly account for the long range stresses associated with them. This clearly implies that the incorporation of an integral expression for the dislocation induced stresses only makes sense within the context of a compatible elastic problem, as e.g. the case in discrete dislocation plasticity. If not, long range stresses resulting from the incompatible elds may, erroneously, be taken into account twice. 3.4. The internal length scale Considering the long range contribution intrinsically incorporated in the incompatible elastic deformation, it becomes imperative to limit the integration to a nite domain as suggested in section 3.1. This naturally restricts the contribution of the dislocation induced stresses to a small volume which is not resolved in the long range elastic elds present in the nite element solution. Indeed, as emphasized in the nearest neighbour approximation above, short range induced stress elds are also incorporated in (12) and (13). These contributions are typically absent in a classical FE solution of the elasto-plastic problem, since they originate from a smaller scale. A lower bound for the integration domain is set by the GND dislocation spacing, whereas an upper bound results from the resolved length scale in the continuum approximation of the deformation eld. Accounting for the incompatible nature of the elastic distortion elds, originating from dislocations, is largely a matter of resolution (i.e. the scale over which the continuum coarse graining applies) and the continuum approximation adopted. Short range interactions are only present if the discrete nature of the dislocations is preserved in its continuous analogon. The latter is typically not the case in the continuum dislocation eld crystal plasticity theory presented here, where uctuations are typically coarse grained towards the adopted continuum. Consistent with this short range reinterpretation of the back stress, the internal length scale R is expected to have a typical physical range larger then 100 nm (for GND = 1014 m2 ) and several micrometres, whereby the latter value is largely dominated by the scale resolution of the continuum elds in the elasto-plastic problem. 3.5. Slip system resolved back stress As already emphasized, the back stress tensor is opposite to the internal stress as imposed through the relation (5). The slip system resolved back stress in (5) is obtained by projecting the full back stress tensor on each of the slip systems
b = Sint : P .

(19)

Crystal plasticity: internal stress effects and cyclic loading

2.5 no back stress back stress R=10m back stress R=25m

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1.5 Shear stress [MPa]

0.5

0.5

0.5

1 Shear strain [%]

1.5

Figure 4. Loadingunloading shear test in the double planar slip.

4. Kinematical hardening related to internal stresses Since emphasis here is put on the role of internal stress, particular attention will be given to its associated kinematical hardening effects. This is particularly relevant for the MEMS applications suggested, where loadingunloading is carried out in a systematic manner. The corresponding analyses have been performed on FCC copper, for which all required material parameters were given in Evers et al (2004b), Bayley et al (2006); however, in the context of the aim of this paper, the value of R will be specied further. The constrained shear strip problem, which has been considered by many authors (Shu et al 2001, Bittencourt et al 2003, Evers et al 2004a, Fredriksson and Gudmundson 2005, Bayley et al 2006), is used to this purpose. Two cases are thereby considered: double-planar slip (two slip systems are taken on one of the {111} close-packed slip planes of an FCC crystal, with slip directions of [101] such that the slip directions make an angle of 60 with the shear direction.) and and [011], octahedral slip (cube oriented in the shear direction). During the planar shear test, the shear rate is kept constant and equal to | | = 1 103 s1 , up to a maximum of 2% shear (applied for both cases considered). To investigate the kinematical hardening, two load reversals are applied, i.e. at 1% and 2% shear, respectively. The shear strip height here is kept constant and equal to 220 m. The double planar slip case results are shown in gure 4, whereas the octahedral slip case is dealt with in gure 5. Results are depicted for three different back stress approaches: no back stress, a back stress corresponding to R = 10 m and one for R = 25 m. Logical differences arise from the differences in slip system activity. Remarkably, a very pronounced kinematical effect is found for the double planar slip case, which is consistent with results found in the literature. For the octahedral case on the contrary, where the dislocation distributions on all slip systems govern the resulting back stress, a more realistic kinematical effect is obtained. This brief comparison essentially illustrates that the contribution of all slip systems in the proper evaluation of the back stress may have a signicant quantitative inuence on the kinematical hardening effects in the crystal plasticity approach. This

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2
no back stress back stress R=10m

Shear stress [MPa]

back stress R=25m

0.5

1 Shear strain [%]

1.5

Figure 5. Loadingunloading shear test in the octahedral slip.

aspect constitutes an essential difference with the back stress formulations proposed in e.g. (Gurtin 2002, Yemov and van der Giessen 2005a). 5. Cyclic loading As emphasized in the introduction, many freestanding MEMS lms are subjected to dynamic loading conditions, where high-cycle fatigue may be a crucial reliability issue. In order to assess the behaviour of the proposed crystal plasticity approach under cyclic loading conditions, a cyclic tensile test on a sample with 12 grains is next carried out under plane stress conditions, based on the sample geometry and orientations as used in Evers et al (2004b) with a total sample length equal to 1 mm. Strain cycling is realized by imposing a sinusoidal axial displacement causing a maximum overall strain amplitude of a = 1.25 104 in both directions (tension and compression). The simulation is carried out over 250 loading cycles in 100 s (giving an average strain rate of 1.25 103 ). Material parameters are identical to those used in Evers et al (2004a), with the exception of the rate sensitivity exponent m, which is taken equal to 0.5. The yield behaviour is thereby smoother, facilitating plastic glide in the engineering elastic regime. Taking a smaller (more realistic) value of m is perfectly possible, but it would require many more cycles to illustrate the same effect. Evolutions of an overall measure of the GND and SSD densities along the tensile symmetry axis in the performed strain cycling tensile test are presented in gures 6 and 7, respectively. Each of the depicted densities is sampled at the end of a selected number of cycles. Given an initial density of GNDs at the grain boundaries (see Evers et al (2004b)), the overall GND prole at the end of each cycle converges to a steady-state distribution. This implies that the GNDs, which vary during each cycle, saturate at the end of each cycle since they essentially result from the occurring slip incompatibilities. The imposed displacement boundary conditions thereby prevent a strong evolution of the internal geometrical strain gradients. The internal stress elds uctuate during cycling, whereas the density of statistically stored dislocations at the end of each cycle keeps evolving with the number of cycles applied. As shown in gure 7, the total SSD density grows steadily, leading to additional hardening

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6 measure of GND densities (1/m2) 5 4 3 2 1 0

x 10

12

start up 50 cycles 150 cycles 250 cycles

0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 dimensionless position, x1/L ()

Figure 6. GND density distribution at the end of the loading cycle.

5.5 measure of SSD densities (1/m2)

x 10

12

start up 50 cycles 150 cycles 250 cycles

4.5

3.5

0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 dimensionless position, x1/L ()

Figure 7. SSD density distribution at the end of the loading cycle.

and a gradual increase of the applied stress level. The resulting mechanical response reveals a typical hysteresis loop, and the cyclic hardening (dened as the growth of the stress amplitude) obtained is approximately 1.4% after 250 loading cycles. Extensions to high-cycle fatigue are not possible within the present solution framework, since this requires a considerable speed-up of the calculations through e.g. a (time homogenized) cycle based approach rather than the time integration approach used here. 6. Conclusions This paper presented a detailed focus on dislocation induced internal stresses within a strain gradient crystal plasticity approach. The need for a second-order crystal plasticity approach

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is motivated in the context of the analysis of free-standing metal lms used in RF-MEMS. The outlined second-order framework incorporates the inuence of inter- and intragranular deformation inhomogeneities in the constitutive description, generally assumed as the basic origin of scale dependent behaviour and associated size effects. Inspired by the dynamic loading of thin RF-MEMS lms, attention was given to dislocation induced kinematical hardening effects. The corresponding internal stresses were derived in detail for straight dislocations, whereby the resulting length scale has been further discussed in relation to the underlying continuum elasto-plastic framework which implicitly accounts for elastic incompatibilities. The model response in loadingunloadingreloading and cyclic loading has been assessed in two examples. From the analyses, it has been shown that the back stress resulting from the dislocation induced stresses are complementary to those arising from the solution of the elastic incompatibility problem, restricting the length scale parameter R in the second-order crystal plasticity approach; the kinematical hardening is strongly determined by the length scale, an effect which clearly depends on the number of potentially active slip systems and their orientations; cyclic loading naturally induces cyclic hardening, whereby the uctuating contribution of the GNDs and back stresses is more or less constant within a cycle (for a displacement driven cyclic tensile test). Important aspects to handle in future work are: the quantitative analysis of the length scale introduced by separating the scale of the internal stress induced through the elastic incompatibilities (involving the rst gradients of slip) and the scale of the dislocation density uctuations in smaller volumes (involving the second gradients of slip); the full extension to 3D where the internal stresses must be corrected for the curved nature of the dislocation lines. Acknowledgments This research was carried out under Project Numbers ME97028 and MC2.01096 in the framework of the Strategic Research Programme of the Netherlands Institute for Metals Research (www.nimr.nl). References
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Crystal plasticity: internal stress effects and cyclic loading Kr oner E 1981 Physics of Defects ed R Balian et al (Amsterdam: North-Holland) pp 217315 Kuroda M and Tvergaard V 2006 J. Mech. Phys. Solids 54 1789810 Levkovitch V and Svendsen B 2006 Int. J. Solids Struct. at press Ma A and Roters F 2004 Acta Mater. 52 360312 Mura T 1963 Phil. Mag. 89 84357 Roy A and Acharya A 2005 J. Mech. Phys. Solids 53 14370 Shu J, Fleck N, Van der Giessen E and Needleman A 2001 J. Mech. Phys. Solids 49 136195 Willis J 1967 Int. J. Eng. Sci. 5 17190 Yemov S and van der Giessen E 2005a Int. J. Solids Struct. 42 337594 Yemov S and van der Giessen E 2005b Euro. J. Mech.A/Solids 24 18393

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