A thermodynamically consistent theory of stress-gradient plasticity

Abstract As an extension to strain-gradient models of size-dependent plastic behaviour, this work proposes a model for a stress-gradient theory. The model is distinguished from earlier works on the topic by its being embedded in a thermodynamically consistent framework. The development is carried out in the context of single-crystal plasticity, and draws on thermodynamically consistent models for single-crystal conventional and strain-gradient plasticity. The model is explored numerically using the example of torsion of a thin wire comprising a face centred cubic crystal, and its behaviour compared with that based on a recent disequilibrium density model of size-dependent plasticity.