Contents: (Adv. Eng. Mater. 9/2009)

A large characterization of the evolution of heterogeneous dislocation structures during tensile and cyclic loadings is given for an austenitic stainless steel. A unified view of these various structures is proposed in the form of a map. The specificities of each defined domain are discussed in terms of long-range internal stresses, in order to formalize the intra-granular stress-strain field, using a simple composite scheme. The importance of taking into account this scheme and the nature of the different dislocations populations in a polycrystalline model is illustrated.