The Portevin-Le Chatelier (PLC) effect means serrated yielding or jerky flow phenomenon in some alloys. In this paper a macroscopic model is developed to investigate the PLC effect with the emphasis on mechanical response of the structure evolution on microscopic scale. In addition to the normal work hardening effect, the model takes account of the thermal activation of dislocation moving with the aid of stress and the collective interactions between mobile dislocations and solute atoms due to dynamic strain ageing (DSA). It can satisfy the negative strain rate sensitivity of flow stress, which is believed to be one of the most special features associated with the PLC effect. The heterogeneous nature of the deformed material is also considered by introducing a nonuniform spatial distribution of some model parameters. The serrated yielding and localized deformation behavior can be successfully reproduced via numerical simulation based on this model.
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