Elastic analysis of finite stiffness bimaterial interfaces: Application to dislocation-interface interactions

We present an easily applied method for determining the elastic fields in problems containing bimaterial interfaces of arbitrary stiffness. This analytical approach is useful for the common situation in which the classical "welded" and "slipping" interface elastic boundary conditions do not adequately describe the interface. As an application of this new approach, we examine the interactions of a single dislocation and an array of dislocations with a general bimaterial interface (with and without misfit) as a function of interfacial stiffness. In cases in which the dislocations are repelled from the interface in the "welded" interface limit, they are attracted to the interface at small separations in the finite stiffness interface limit. In cases where there is a finite misfit dislocation array stand-off from the interface in the welded interface limit, decreasing the interface stiffness results in smaller (or zero) stand-off distances. © 1998 Acta Metallurgica Inc.