Application of a 3d-continuum theory of dislocations to a problem of constrained plastic flow: Microbending of a thin film

The advancing miniaturisation of e.g. microelectronic devices leads to an increasing interest in physically motivated continuum theories of plasticity in small volumes. Such theories need to be based on the averaged dynamics of dislocations. Preserving the line-like character of these defects, however, posed serious problems for the development of dislocation-based continuum theories, while continuum theories based on scalar dislocation densities necessarily stay on a phenomenological level. Within this work we apply a dislocation-based continuum theory, which is based on a physically meaningful averaging of dislocation lines, to the benchmark problem of bending of a free-standing thin film.