  The statistical-thermodynamic dislocation theory developed in our earlier
studies is used here in an analysis of the experimental observations of
adiabatic shear banding in steel by Marchand and Duffy (1988). Employing a
small set of physics-based parameters, which we expect to be approximately
independent of strain rate and temperature, we are able to explain experimental
stress-strain curves at six different temperatures and four different strain
rates. We make a simple model of a weak notch-like disturbance that, when
driven hard enough, triggers shear banding instabilities that are
quantitatively comparable with those seen in the experiments.
