| Summary: | Contrary to elastic deformation, plastic deformation of crystalline materials, such as metals, is size-dependent. Most commonly, this phenomenon is present but unnoticed, such as the effect of microstructural length scales. The grain size in metallic materials is a length scale that affects material parameters such as yield stress and hardening moduli. In addition, several experiments performed in recent years on specimens with geometrical dimensions on the micron scale have shown that these dimensions also influence the mechanical behaviour. The work presented in this thesis involves continuum modelling and simulation of size-dependent plastic deformation, with emphasis on thin films and the formulation of interface conditions. A recently published strain gradient plasticity framework for isotropic materials [Gudmundson, P., 2004. A unified treatment of strain gradient plasticity. Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids 52, 1379-1406] is used as a basis for the work. The theory is higher-order in the sense that additional boundary conditions are required and, as a consequence, higher-order stresses appear in the theory. For dimensional consistency, length scale parameters enter the theory, which is not the case for conventional plasticity theory. In Paper A and B, interface conditions are formulated in terms of a surface energy. The surface energy is assumed to depend on the plastic strain state at the interface and different functional forms are investigated. Numerical results are generated with the finite element method and it is found that this type of interface condition can capture the boundary layers that develop at the substrate interface in thin films. Size-effects are captured in the hardening behaviour as well as the yield strength. In addition, it is shown that there is an equivalence between a surface energy varying linearly in plastic strain and a viscoplastic interface law for monotonous loading. In paper C, a framework of finite element equations is formulated, of which a plane strain version is implemented in a commercial finite element program. Results are presented for an idealized problem of a metal matrix composite and several element types are examined numerically. In paper D, the implementation is used in a numerical study of wedge indentation of a thin film on an elastic substrate. Several trends that have been observed experimentally are captured in the theoretical predictions. Increased hardness at shallow depths due to gradient effects as well as increased hardness at more significant depths due to the presence of the substrate are found. It is shown that the hardening behaviour of the film has a large impact on the substrate effect and that either pile-up or sink-in deformation modes may be obtained depending on the material length scale parameter. Finally, it is qualitatively demonstrated that the substrate compliance has a significant effect on the calculated hardness of the film. === QC 20100723
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