Recent experiments at strain rates reaching 0.1 GHz suggest a power-law dependence of solid-phase shear stress on strain rate. Novel nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations of plastic flow have been carried out. These steady-state isothermal calculations appear to be consistent with the present-day experimental data and suggest that the flows of metals can be described by a single physical mechanism over a range of strain rates from 10 kHz to 1 THz.

• Received 27 April 1982

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.48.1818