A scaling theory describing the strength of lamellar materials is deve
loped. The theory is based on the premise that dislocation pileups are
responsible for the yielding behavior of the lamellar material. The t
heory is developed in terms of four parameters: The pileup length, the
exponent characterizing the divergence of the dislocation density at
the interface, a critical distance between the lead dislocation and th
e interface, and a pinning stress at the interface which acts as an ad
ditional hindrance to dislocation motion. [S0031-9007(98)07268-8].