Deformime

Deformime is a theoretical metric used in materials science and computational mechanics to quantify the degree of microstructural deformation within a material under external stimuli. It is designed to capture both elastic and irreversible plastic changes, providing a single scalar quantity that correlates with damage evolution and performance.

In a conventional setting, deformime at a material point is defined from the deformation gradient F. If lambda1, lambda2, lambda3 are the principal stretches, one possible formulation is D = sqrt((lambda1-1)^2 + (lambda2-1)^2 + (lambda3-1)^2). D = 0 when there is no deformation; larger values indicate greater deformation. Other formulations use invariants of the right Cauchy-Green tensor C = F^T F or the Green-Lagrange strain E = (F^T F - I)/2, combined with a weighting to emphasize plastic changes.

Applications include guiding mesh refinement in finite element simulations, assessing damage-prone regions in metamaterials, and supporting visualization of deformation in real-time simulation tools.

History and terminology: The term deformime is not part of standard metallurgical or mechanical nomenclature and appears in some speculative or pedagogical discussions as a convenient shorthand for a composite deformation measure. It may be presented alongside conventional strain measures such as engineering strain, Green-Lagrange strain, or von Mises equivalent strain.

See also: Deformation gradient, Strain, Stress, Material failure, Metamaterials.