Dynamics of Plastic Deformation Fronts in an Aluminum Alloy

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Abstract
Forming aluminum alloys into desired shapes has long been hampered by undesired propagating fronts of plastic flow. We have performed experiments to investigate these fronts to find what causes their motion and what determines their velocity. A simple phenomenology quantitatively captures many experimental details, most importantly the propagation of the fronts at constant stress and the transition between hopping and continuous front motion.