Nanomechamcs: A new picture of plasticity

The high-temperature nanoindentation measurements offer a quantitative experimental method of studying the onset of nanoscale plasticity. At high stress, dislocations nucleate homogeneously, which requires local lattice distortions of sufficient magnitude to produce a dislocation loop from a perfect lattice. By performing nanoindentation measurements at high temperatures, it is possible to obtain quantitative measurements of the activation energies, volumes, and attempt frequencies involved in the onset of plasticity. Theory and experiment involving the same number of atoms can be coupled to provide the basis of robust multiscale modeling of surface plasticity.