Portevin-Le Chatelier effect, Dynamic strain aging, Complexity, Modified multiscale entropy, Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General), TA1-2040

The complexity of the Portevin-Le Chatelier (PLC) effect in an Al alloy at different temperatures was analyzed by modified multiscale entropy. The results show that three evolutions of entropy with scale factor, i.e., near zero, monotonically increasing and peak-shape, were observed corresponding to the smooth curves, type-A serrations and type-B/-C serrations, respectively. The scale factor at the peak was one-third of the average serration period. The sample entropy increased initially and then decreased with temperature, which was opposite to the critical strain. It is also suggested that the type-A serrations corresponded to self-organized criticality and the type-B/-C serrations corresponded to chaos through the evolutions of entropy with scale factor.