Magnetic effects in electroplasticity of metals

An explanation of the electroplastic effect is proposed. The increase of the metal plasticity is brought about by the facilitation of dislocation depinning caused by the current-induced magnetic field. This mechanism allows one to explain the principal features of the effect which include its nonpolarity, characteristic value of the current density, and the dependences of the stress drop on the current density, temperature, etc. Possible experiments for testing the model are discussed.