Scale-free statistics of plasticity-induced surface steps on KCl single crystals

TL;DR

This paper reveals that plastic deformation in KCl single crystals exhibits scale-free spatial surface steps, linking microscopic strain bursts to macroscopic acoustic emissions, highlighting universal patterns in material plasticity.

Contribution

It demonstrates the scale-free spatial distribution of surface steps during plastic flow in KCl crystals, connecting microscopic and macroscopic deformation phenomena.

Findings

Surface step heights follow a scale-free distribution.

Deformation bursts correlate with acoustic emission energy.

Spatial intermittency mirrors temporal scale-free behavior.

Abstract

Experimental investigations of plastic flow have demonstrated temporal intermittency as deformation proceeds in a series of intermittent bursts with scale-free size distribution. In the present investigation, a corresponding spatial intermittency is demonstrated for plastic flow of KCl single crystals. Deformation bursts lead to large surface steps with a height distribution that is consistent with the distribution of strain increments in deformation of micro-columns, and the energy distribution of acoustic emission bursts observed in deformation of macroscopic single crystal samples of a wide class of materials.