Bauschinger effect in precipitation-strengthened materials: A dislocation dynamics investigation

The Bauschinger effect in dispersion-strengthened materials is investigated with the help of a 3D dislocation dynamics simulation. Among the different elementary features controlling strengthening, Orowan loops around impenetrable particles appear to be a key parameter of non-relaxed microstructures, as they effectively mask a fraction of precipitates during dislocation backward glide. A new model based on the short-range interactions observed during the simulations is proposed and is compared with the classical model of Brown and Stobbs.