Transients in steady-state plastic deformation produced by changes of strain rate

Abstract
Transient changes in load following a decrease in strain rate have been measured with a fast recording system during tensile tests of copper crystals. Good agreement between the predicted and measured shapes of the transients have been obtained simply by taking into account the elasticity of the testing machine. A method of extrapolation to obtain the resulting change in flow stress is described. It is suggested that the transients are present because the conditions prevailing on secondary glide systems are characteristic of creep, and that the transients essentially reflect changes in creep rate on secondary systems.