Dislocation Evolution in Iron during Nanoindentation

Nanoindentation has been applied widely to probe the local plastic behaviors of metals. However, the dislocation network under indenter and its evolution have not been fully understood. By comparing molecular dynamics (MD) and discrete dislocation dynamics (DDD) simulations in body-centered cubic (BCC) Fe single crystal in nano-scale volumes under nanoindentation, the DDD parameters can be calibrated and then used in micro-scale volumes. For most DDD simulations, cross slip and jog formation are ignored. Here, their effects on the evolution of dislocation network are studied, which explains why dislocation network evolves differently between the previous DDD and MD simulations.