RECOMMENDATIONS ON MODELING POLYPHASE PLASTICITY - CONCLUSIONS OF PANEL DISCUSSIONS

A workshop, sponsored by NATO, convened in Palm Springs, CA, May 17-21 , 1993, to discuss strategies leading to a more quantitative understan ding of polyphase plasticity. A panel recommended interdisciplinary in vestigations of carefully selected and characterized model systems whi ch contain essential ingredients typical of composites. This requires collaboration between experimentalists and theoreticians and could ben efit from close interaction of mechanicians, materials scientists and geologists. In comparison with single-phase materials, polyphase compo sites display mechanical and chemical heterogeneities at all scales, a nd are generally highly anisotropic, thus requiring consideration of g eometry and topology, local equilibrium and compatibility.