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A Gradient Plasticity Update

Elias Aifantis (Aristotle University of Thessa)

Prager Medal Symposium in honor of George Weng: Micromechanics, Composites and Multifunctional Materials

Mon 2:40 - 4:00

MacMillan 117

Over than a quarter of a century ago, in a symposium organized by George Weng honoring Daniel Drucker, a theory of gradient plasticity was presented which appeared in the J. Eng. Mater. & Techno. 106, 326-330, 1984. Since then, a large number of papers have appeared on the subject by prominent researchers at leading universities all over the world. Various areas have been addressed including shear bands and plastic instabilities, size effects, thermodynamics, experiments and computations. Nevertheless, several crucial issues related to the physical identification and experimental determination of internal lengths, the role of surfaces and interfaces, the nature of boundary conditions and the influence of stochasticity, remain partly unresolved. This lecture dedicated to George Weng would attempt to clarify some of these issues.