A non-local dislocation density based crystal plasticity model, which takes account of the microstrncture inhomogeneity, was used to investigate the micro-bending of metallic crystalline foils. In this model, both statistically stored dislocations （SSDs） and geometrically necessary dislocations （GNDs） are taken as the internal state variables. The strain gradient hardening in micro-bending of single-grained metal foils was predicted by evolution of GNDs. The predicted results were compared with the micro-hardness distribution of the previous micro-bending experiments of CuZn37 a-brass foils with coarse grains and fine grains. Comparison of the simulated dislocation densities distribution of SSDs and GNDs with the experimental results shows that different micro-hardness distribution patterns of the coarse and fine grain foils can be attributed to the corresponding SSDs and GNDs distributions. The present model provides a physical insight into the deformation mechanism and dislocation densities evolution of the micro-bending process.
