The movement of volterra disclinations and the associated mechanical forces

Abstract

An analysis is made of conservative and non-conservative movement of Volterra disclinations and the associated mechanical forces. It is shown that both disclination lines and their axes can experience a force under the action of an applied stress. A general equation is derived for the force on a disclination loop and its axis. The condition for conservative movement is derived. Examples illustrating these principles are given. Glide surfaces for disclination loops are defined. The motion is conservative on a surface generated by rotating the disclination line around its axis, and on a plane normal to the axis. It is shown how a twist loop can be converted to a wedge loop and, vice versa, conservatively.