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The century-long problem of conversion of plastic work to heat is controversial and challenging. In this work, 2D and 3D molecular simulations of crystal Cu are carried out to study the micro-mechanism of plastic work converting to heat. The results show that heat generation comes along with lattice restoration, transferring part of potential energy of defects, i.e., stored energy of cold work (SECW), to kinetic energy. As a result, specific crystallographic defects generate amounts of heat corresponding to variations of their SECW. If the change of microstructure and temperature are only detected at the surface of the system, the time lag of heat generation will be observed. The simulation results are indispensable accompaniments of experimental research, unveiling how plastic heat is affected by the type, propagation path, and density of defects, providing nano-scale explanations for the time lag of temperature rising in experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]