Shielding effects and residual stresses at cleavage due to pre-existing dislocations

The motion of pre-existing edge dislocations in an infinite linear elastic body is studied at initiation of crack growth and at quasi-static steady-state crack growth. Dislocation nucleation is assumed not to occur. Thus, the study concerns only dislocations that are present in the virgin material. A dislocation is assumed to glide if its driving force exceeds a critical value. Changes in dislocation density, crack tip shielding and residual stresses are obtained. The shielding of a stationary crack tip is found to be small compared with the shielding of a growing crack tip. At steady-state the residual stresses far behind the crack tip are tensile near the crack, decreasing to zero at a certain distance from the crack plane. It is shown that the shielding due to pre-existing dislocations, e.g., for cleavage in α-iron crystals may be considerable.