Plasticity-Induced Anisotropy in Amorphous Solids: the Bauschinger Effect

TL;DR

This paper investigates the origin of directional memory in amorphous solids after plastic deformation, identifying an order parameter that explains anisotropic responses and proposing its role in elasto-plasticity theory.

Contribution

It introduces a measurable order parameter responsible for plasticity-induced anisotropy and discusses its significance in the theoretical framework of elasto-plasticity.

Findings

Identifies an order parameter linked to material memory.

Describes the trajectory of this parameter along stress-strain curves.

Proposes the importance of the parameter's distribution in elasto-plasticity theory.

Abstract

Amorphous solids that underwent a strain in one direction such that they responded in a plastic manner `remember' that direction also when relaxed back to a state with zero mean stress. We address the question `what is the order parameter that is responsible for this memory?' and is therefore the reason for the different subsequent responses of the material to strains in different directions. We identify such an order parameter which is readily measurable, we discuss its trajectory along the stress-strain curve, and propose that it and its probability distribution function must form a necessary component of a theory of elasto-plasticity.