Title: On the relevance of generalized disclinations in defect mechanics,
Abstract: The utility of the notion of generalized disclinations in materials science
is discussed within the physical context of modeling interfacial and bulk line
defects like defected grain and phase boundaries, dislocations and
disclinations. The Burgers vector of a disclination dipole in linear elasticity
is derived, clearly demonstrating the equivalence of its stress field to that
of an edge dislocation. We also prove that the inverse deformation/displacement
jump of a defect line is independent of the cut-surface when its g.disclination
strength vanishes. An explicit formula for the displacement jump of a single
localized composite defect line in terms of given g.disclination and
dislocation strengths is deduced based on the Weingarten theorem for
g.disclination theory (Weingarten-gd theorem) at finite deformation. The
Burgers vector of a g.disclination dipole at finite deformation is also
derived.