  The shear-transformation-zone (STZ) theory of plastic deformation predicts
that sufficiently soft, non-crystalline solids are linearly unstable against
forming periodic arrays of microstructural shear bands. A limited nonlinear
analysis indicates that this instability may be the mechanism responsible for
strain softening in both constant-stress and constant-strain-rate experiments.
The analysis presented here pertains only to one-dimensional banding patterns
in two-dimensional systems, and only to very low temperatures. It uses the
rudimentary form of the STZ theory in which there is only a single kind of zone
rather than a distribution of them with a range of transformation rates.
Nevertheless, the results are in qualitative agreement with essential features
of the available experimental data. The nonlinear theory also implies that
harder materials, which do not undergo a microstructural instability, may form
isolated shear bands in weak regions or, perhaps, at points of concentrated
stress.
