Autowave plasticity: principles and possibilities

Basic concepts of the autowave model of development of a localized plastic flow of solids of different natures are considered. It is shown that plastic deformation develops in a localized (at the macroscale level) way throughout the process. The form of the observed localization patterns is related to stages of strain hardening of the material. The patterns are projections of different modes of the localized plastic flow autowave on the observation surface. An elastoplastic strain invariant is introduced, which is considered as the main equation of the autowave plasticity model, and its physical nature is discussed.