Theoretical Justification of Single-Ended Dislocation-Source-Controlled Deformation of Micropillar fcc Crystals

It was established at the beginning of the 21st century that the critical resolved shear stress of small-sized (diameter from 50 nm to 10  μm) metallic crystals fabricated from bulk crystals increases drastically with decreasing specimen diameter. Dou and Derby [Scr. Mater. 61, 524 (2009)SCMAF71359-646210.1016/j.scriptamat.2009.05.012] showed that, the critical shear stresses of small-sized single crystals of various fcc metals obeyed a universal power law of specimen size with an exponent of -0.66. In this study, we succeeded in reproducing almost perfectly the above universal relation without any adjustable parameters, based on a deformation process controlled by the operation of single-ended dislocation sources.