Analytical springback model for lightweight hexagonal close-packed sheet metal

Experiments have shown that magnesium alloy sheet a common hexagonal close-packed metal, exhibits mechanical behavior unlike that of sheets made of cubic metals (X.Y. Lou et al., 2007, Int. J. Plasticity, 24, 44). The unique stress–strain response includes a strong asymmetry in the initial yield and subsequent plastic hardening. In other words, the stress–strain curves in tension and compression are significantly different. A proper representation of the constitutive relationships is crucial for the accurate evaluation of springback, which occurs due to the residual moment distribution through the sheet thickness after bending. In this paper, we propose an analytical model for asymmetric elasto-plastic bending under tension followed by elastic unloading in order to evaluate the bending moment, which is equivalent to the springback amount. To simplify the calculations, the experimentally measured stress–strain curve of the magnesium alloy sheet was approximated with discrete linear hardening in each deformation region, and the material properties were characterized according to several simplifying assumptions. The bending moment was calculated analytically using the approximate asymmetric stress–strain relationship up to the prescribed curvature corresponding to the radius of the tool in sheet metal forming operations. A numerical example showed an unusual springback increase, even with an increase in the applied force; this is an unexpected result for conventional symmetric materials. We also compared the calculated springback amounts with the results of physical measurements. This showed that the proposed model predicts the main trends of the springback in magnesium alloy sheets reasonably well considering the simplicity of the analytical approach.     

INVESTIGATIONS ON THE MECHANICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF NANOBEAMS BASED ON THE NONLOCAL STRAIN GRADIENT THEORY1)

基于非局部应变梯度理论,建立了一种具有尺度效应的高阶剪切变形纳米梁的力学模型. 其中,考虑了应变场和一阶应变梯度场下的非局部效应. 采用哈密顿原理推导了纳米梁的控制方程和边界条件,并给出了简支边界条件下静弯曲、自由振动和线性屈曲问题的纳维级数解. 数值结果表明,非局部效应对梁的刚度产生软化作用,应变梯度效应对纳米梁的刚度产生硬化作用,梁的刚度整体呈现软化还是硬化效应依赖于非局部参数与材料特征尺度的比值. 梁的厚度与材料特征尺度越接近,非局部应变梯度理论与经典弹性理论所预测结果之间的差异越显著.     

Prediction of the initial thickness of shear band localization based on a reduced strain gradient theory

Plastic flow localization in ductile materials subjected to pure shear loading and uniaxial tension is investigated respectively in this paper using a reduced strain gradient theory, which consists of the couple-stress (CS) strain gradient theory proposed by Fleck and Hutchinson (1993) and the strain gradient hardening (softening) law (C–W) proposed by Chen and Wang (2000). Unlike the classical plasticity framework, the initial thickness of the shear band and the strain rate distribution in both cases are predicted analytically using a bifurcation analysis. It shows that the strain rate is obviously non-uniform inside the shear band and reaches a maximum at the center of the shear band. The initial thickness of the shear band depends on not only the material intrinsic length l_cs but also the material constants, such as the yield strength, ultimate tension strength, the linear hardening and softening shear moduli. Specially, in the uniaxial tension case, the most possible tilt angle of shear band localization is consistent qualitatively with the existing experimental observations. The results in this paper should be useful for engineers to predict the details of material failures due to plastic flow localization.     

Size effects in the conical indentation of an elasto-plastic solid

The size effect in conical indentation of an elasto-plastic solid is predicted via the Fleck and Willis formulation of strain gradient plasticity (Fleck, N.A. and Willis, J.R., 2009, A mathematical basis for strain gradient plasticity theory. Part II: tensorial plastic multiplier, J. Mech. Phys. Solids, 57, 1045–1057). The rate-dependent formulation is implemented numerically and the full-field indentation problem is analyzed via finite element calculations, for both ideally plastic behavior and dissipative hardening. The isotropic strain-gradient theory involves three material length scales, and the relative significance of these length scales upon the degree of size effect is assessed. Indentation maps are generated to summarize the sensitivity of indentation hardness to indent size, indenter geometry and material properties (such as yield strain and strain hardening index). The finite element model is also used to evaluate the pertinence of the Johnson cavity expansion model and of the Nix–Gao model, which have been extensively used to predict size effects in indentation hardness.     

A reliability study of springback on the sheet metal forming process under probabilistic variation of prestrain and blank holder force

This work deals with a reliability assessment of springback problem during the sheet metal forming process. The effects of operative parameters and material properties, blank holder force and plastic prestrain, on springback are investigated. A generic reliability approach was developed to control springback. Subsequently, the Monte Carlo simulation technique in conjunction with the Latin hypercube sampling method was adopted to study the probabilistic springback. Finite element method based on implicit/explicit algorithms was used to model the springback problem. The proposed constitutive law for sheet metal takes into account the adaptation of plastic parameters of the hardening law for each prestrain level considered. Rackwitz-Fiessler algorithm is used to find reliability properties from response surfaces of chosen springback geometrical parameters. The obtained results were analyzed using a multi-state limit reliability functions based on geometry compensations.     

On dimensionless numbers for dynamic plastic response of structural members

Summary A dimensional analysis is reported for the dynamic plastic response and failure of structural members, which includes material strain hardening, strain rate and temperature effects. Critical shear failure conditions are also discussed based on the dimensional analysis results. It is shown that the response number R _n proposed in [3], is an important independent dimensionless number for the dynamic plastic bending and membrane response of structural members. However, additional dimensionless numbers are necessary when transverse shear, strain hardening, strain rate, and temperature effects are important. Received 22 February 1999; accepted for publication 15 June 1999     

Strain gradient effects on cyclic plasticity

Size effects on the cyclic shear response are studied numerically using a recent higher order strain gradient visco-plasticity theory accounting for both dissipative and energetic gradient hardening. Numerical investigations of the response under cyclic pure shear and shear of a finite slab between rigid platens have been carried out, using the finite element method. It is shown for elastic-perfectly plastic solids how dissipative gradient effects lead to increased yield strength, whereas energetic gradient contributions lead to increased hardening as well as a Bauschinger effect. For linearly hardening materials it is quantified how dissipative and energetic gradient effects promote hardening above that of conventional predictions. Usually, increased hardening is attributed to energetic gradient effects, but here it is found that also dissipative gradient effects lead to additional hardening in the presence of conventional material hardening. Furthermore, it is shown that dissipative gradient effects can lead to both an increase and a decrease in the dissipation per load cycle depending on the magnitude of the dissipative length parameter, whereas energetic gradient effects lead to decreasing dissipation for increasing energetic length parameter. For dissipative gradient effects it is found that dissipation has a maximum value for some none zero value of the material length parameter, which depends on the magnitude of the deformation cycles.     

Strain gradient plasticity,strengthening effects and plastic limit analysis

Within the framework of isotropic strain gradient plasticity, a rate-independent constitutive model exhibiting size dependent hardening is formulated and discussed with particular concern to its strengthening behavior. The latter is modelled as a (fictitious) isotropic hardening featured by a potential which is a positively degree-one homogeneous function of the effective plastic strain and its gradient. This potential leads to a strengthening law in which the strengthening stress, i.e. the increase of the plastically undeformed material initial yield stress, is related to the effective plastic strain through a second order PDE and related higher order boundary conditions. The plasticity flow laws, with the role there played by the strengthening stress, are addressed and shown to admit a maximum dissipation principle. For an idealized elastic perfectly plastic material with strengthening effects, the plastic collapse load problem of a micro/nano scale structure is addressed and its basic features under the light of classical plastic limit analysis are pointed out. It is found that the conceptual framework of classical limit analysis, including the notion of rigid-plastic behavior, remains valid. The lower bound and upper bound theorems of classical limit analysis are extended to strengthening materials. A static-type maximum principle and a kinematic-type minimum principle, consequences of the lower and upper bound theorems, respectively, are each independently shown to solve the collapse load problem. These principles coincide with their respective classical counterparts in the case of simple material. Comparisons with existing theories are provided. An application of this nonclassical plastic limit analysis to a simple shear model is also presented, in which the plastic collapse load is shown to increase with the decreasing sample size (Hall–Petch size effects).     

Finite versus small strain discrete dislocation analysis of cantilever bending of single crystals

Plastic size effects in single crystals are investi-gated by using finite strain and small strain discrete dislo-cation plasticity to analyse the response of cantilever beam specimens. Crystals with both one and two active slip sys-tems are analysed, as well as specimens with different beam aspect ratios. Over the range of specimen sizes analysed here, the bending stress versus applied tip displacement response has a strong hardening plastic component. This hardening rate increases with decreasing specimen size. The hardening rates are slightly lower when the finite strain discrete disloca-tion plasticity (DDP) formulation is employed as curving of the slip planes is accounted for in the finite strain formulation. This relaxes the back-stresses in the dislocation pile-ups and thereby reduces the hardening rate. Our calculations show that in line with the pure bending case, the bending stress in cantilever bending displays a plastic size dependence. How-ever, unlike pure bending, the bending flow strength of the larger aspect ratio cantilever beams is appreciably smaller. This is attributed to the fact that for the same applied bend-ing stress, longer beams have lower shear forces acting upon them and this results in a lower density of statistically stored dislocations.     

Strain gradient crystal plasticity analysis of a single crystal containing a cylindrical void

The effects of void size and hardening in a hexagonal close-packed single crystal containing a cylindrical void loaded by a far-field equibiaxial tensile stress under plane strain conditions are studied. The crystal has three in-plane slip systems oriented at the angle 60° with respect to one another. Finite element simulations are performed using a strain gradient crystal plasticity formulation with an intrinsic length scale parameter in a non-local strain gradient constitutive framework. For a vanishing length scale parameter the non-local formulation reduces to a local crystal plasticity formulation. The stress and deformation fields obtained with a local non-hardening constitutive formulation are compared to those obtained from a local hardening formulation and to those from a non-local formulation. Compared to the case of the non-hardening local constitutive formulation, it is shown that a local theory with hardening has only minor effects on the deformation field around the void, whereas a significant difference is obtained with the non-local constitutive relation. Finally, it is shown that the applied stress state required to activate plastic deformation at the void is up to three times higher for smaller void sizes than for larger void sizes in the non-local material.     

A thermodynamic based higher-order gradient theory for size dependent plasticity

A physically motivated and thermodynamically consistent formulation of small strain higher-order gradient plasticity theory is presented. Based on dislocation mechanics interpretations, gradients of variables associated with kinematic and isotropic hardenings are introduced. This framework is a two non-local parameter framework that takes into consideration large variations in the plastic strain tensor and large variations in the plasticity history variable; the equivalent (effective) plastic strain. The presence of plastic strain gradients is motivated by the evolution of dislocation density tensor that results from non-vanishing net Burgers vector and, hence, incorporating additional kinematic hardening (anisotropy) effects through lattice incompatibility. The presence of gradients in the effective (scalar) plastic strain is motivated by the accumulation of geometrically necessary dislocations and, hence, incorporating additional isotropic hardening effects (i.e. strengthening). It is demonstrated that the non-local yield condition, flow rule, and non-zero microscopic boundary conditions can be derived directly from the principle of virtual power. It is also shown that the local Clausius–Duhem inequality does not hold for gradient-dependent material and, therefore, a non-local form should be adopted. The non-local Clausius–Duhem inequality has an additional term that results from microstructural long-range energy interchanges between the material points within the body. A detailed discussion on the physics and the application of proper microscopic boundary conditions, either on free surfaces, clamped surfaces, or intermediate constrained surfaces, is presented. It is shown that there is a close connection between interface/surface energy of an interface or free surface and the microscopic boundary conditions in terms of microtraction stresses. Some generalities and utility of this theory are discussed and comparisons with other gradient theories are given. Applications of the proposed theory for size effects in thin films are presented.     

A crystal plasticity model that incorporates stresses and strains due to slip gradients

This work is concerned with incorporating the kinematic and stress effects of excess dislocations in a constitutive model for the elastoplastic behavior of crystalline materials. The foundation of the model is a three term multiplicative decomposition of the deformation gradient in which the two classical terms of plastic and elastic deformation are included along with an additional term for long range strain due to the collective effects of excess dislocations. The long range strain is obtained from an assumed density of Volterra edge dislocations and is directly related to gradients in slip. A new material parameter emerges which is the size the region about a continuum point that contributes to long range strains.Using Hookean elasticity, the stress at a point is linearly related to the sum of the elastic plus the long range strain fields. However, the driving force for slip is postulated to be due only to the elastic stress so that the long range stress is a back stress in the constitutive relationship for plastic deformation. A consistent balance of the total deformation rate with the three proposed mechanisms of deformation leads to a set of differential equations that can be solved for the elastic stress, rotation and pressure which then implicitly defines the material state and equilibrium stress. Results from the simulation of a tapered tensile specimen demonstrate that the constitutive model exhibits isotropic and kinematic type hardening effects as well as changes in the pattern of plastic deformation and necking when compared to a material without slip gradient effects.     

The bending moment and springback in pure bending of anisotropic sheets

Finite deformation rigid plastic and elastic–plastic analyses of plane strain pure bending of a plastically anisotropic sheet is presented. An efficient method for finding the exact solution is proposed by extending the previously developed method to the stage of unloading. Using this method the solutions are obtained in closed form or reduced to a numerical treatment of ordinary integrals, or an ordinary differential equation, or transcendental equations. An effect of plastic anisotropy and elastic properties on the bending moment is analyzed. The distribution of residual stresses is illustrated and an effect of material and process parameters on springback is investigated.     

Size-dependent bending of thin metallic films

Size-dependent large curvature pure bending of thin metallic films has been analytically studied taking into account the associated strengthening mechanisms at different thickness scales. The classical plasticity theory is applicable to films thicker than 100 μm. Consequently, their bending capacity is governed by the competition between the material hardening and the thickness reduction. For films with a thickness ranging from fractions of a micron to a few microns, in addition to the above mechanisms, the strain gradient effect plays an important role and introduces an internal length scale. When the film thickness reduces to the nano-scale, the strain gradient effect is gradually replaced by the dominant surface stress/energy effect.     

A general analytic solution for plane strain bending under tension for strain-hardening material at large strains

A new analytic solution for plane strain bending under tension of a sheet is proposed for elastic-plastic, isotropic, incompressible, strain-hardening material at large strains. Numerical treatment is only necessary to calculate ordinary integrals and solve transcendental equations. No restriction is imposed on the hardening law. All governing equations and boundary conditions are exactly satisfied. The only exception is that the actual stress distribution over the ends of the sheet is replaced with a concentrated force and a concentrated bending moment. The through-thickness distribution of residual stresses and a measure of springback are also found. The range of validity of the solution is determined. An illustrative example is provided for Swift’s hardening law.     

Size-effects on yield surfaces for micro reinforced composites

Size effects in heterogeneous materials are studied using a rate independent higher order strain gradient plasticity theory, where strain gradient effects are incorporated in the free energy of the material. Numerical studies are carried out using a finite element method, where the components of the plastic strain tensor appear as free variables in addition to the displacement variables. Non-conventional boundary conditions are applied at material interfaces to model a constraint on plastic flow due to dislocation blocking. Unit cell calculations are carried out under generalized plane strain conditions. The homogenized response of a material with cylindrical reinforcing fibers is analyzed for different values of the internal material length scale and homogenized yield surfaces are presented. While the main focus is on initial yield surfaces, subsequent yield surfaces are also presented. The center of the yield surface is tracked under uniaxial loading both in the transverse and longitudinal directions and an anisotropic Bauschinger effect is shown to depend on the size of the fibers. Results are compared to conventional predictions, and size-effects on the kinematic hardening are accentuated.     

Anisotropic hardening and non-associated flow in proportional loading of sheet metals

Conventional isotropic hardening models constrain the shape of the yield function to remain fixed throughout plastic deformation. However, experiments show that hardening is only approximately isotropic under conditions of proportional loading, giving rise to systematic errors in calculation of stresses based on models that impose the constraint. Five different material data for aluminum and stainless steel alloys are used to calibrate and evaluate five material models, ranging in complexity from a von Mises’ model based on isotropic hardening to a non- associated flow rule (AFR) model based on anisotropic hardening. A new model is described in which four stress–strain functions are explicitly integrated into the yield criterion in closed form definition of the yield condition. The model is based on a non-AFR so that this integration does not affect the accuracy of the plastic strain components defined by the gradient of a separate plastic potential function. The model not only enables the elimination of systematic errors for loading along the four loading conditions, but also leads to a significant reduction of systematic errors in other loading conditions to no higher than 1.5% of the magnitude of the predicted stresses, far less that errors obtained under isotropic hardening, and at a level comparable to experimental uncertainty in the stress measurement. The model is expected to lead to a significant improvement in stress prediction under conditions dominated by proportional loading, and this is expected to directly improve the accuracy of springback, tearing, and earing predictions for these processes. In addition, it is shown that there is no consequence on MK necking localization due to the saturation of the yield surface in pure shear that occurs with the aluminum alloys using the present model.     

A thermodynamics based damage mechanics constitutive model for low cycle fatigue analysis of microelectronics solder joints incorporating size effects

Below certain length scales and in the presence of a non-uniform plastic strain field the mechanical behavior of many metals and its alloys is substantially different from that in bulk specimens. In particular, an increase in resistance with decreasing size has been observed in Pb/Sn eutectic solder alloys which are extensively used in microelectronics packaging interconnects. Due to the high homologous temperature, the Pb/Sn solder exhibits creep–fatigue interaction and significant time, temperature, stress and rate dependent material characteristics. The simultaneous consideration of all the above mentioned factors makes constitutive modeling an extremely difficult task. In this paper, a viscoplastic constitutive model unified with a thermodynamics based damage evolution model is embedded into a couple stress framework in order to simulate low cycle fatigue response coupled to size effects. The model is implemented into commercial finite element code ABAQUS. The microbending experiment on thin nickel foils is used to validate the model. Analyses are performed on a thin layer solder joint in bending under cyclic loading conditions.     

Constitutive modeling for anisotropic/asymmetric hardening behavior of magnesium alloy sheets: Application to sheet springback

The constitutive model for the unusual asymmetric hardening behavior of magnesium alloy sheet presented in a companion paper (Lee, M.G., Wagoner, R.H., Lee, J.K., Chung, K., Kim, H.Y., 2008. Constitutive modeling for anisotropic/asymmetric hardening behavior of magnesium alloy sheet, Int. J. Plasticity 24(4), 545–582) was applied to the springback prediction in sheet metal forming. The implicit finite element program ABAQUS was utilized to implement the developed constitutive equations via user material subroutine. For the verification purpose, the springback of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet was measured using the unconstrained cylindrical bending test of Numisheet (Numisheet ’2002 Benchmark Problem, 2002. In: Yang, D.Y., Oh, S.I., Huh, H., Kim, Y.H. (Eds.), Proceedings of 5th International Conference and Workshop on Numerical Simulation of 3D Sheet Forming Processes, Jeju, Korea) and 2D draw bend test. With the specially designed draw bend test the direct restraining force and long drawn distance were attainable, thus the measurement of the springback could be made with improved accuracy comparable with conventional U channel draw bend test. Besides the developed constitutive models, other models based on isotropic constitutive equations and the Chaboche type kinematic hardening model were also considered. Comparisons were made between simulated results by the finite element analysis and corresponding experiments and the newly proposed model showed enhanced prediction capability, which was also supported by the simple bending analysis adopting asymmetric stress–strain response.     

考虑塑性应变记忆恢复的循环棘轮本构模型研究

在统一粘塑性循环本构理论框架下,以Ohno-Abdel-Karim非线性随动硬化模型为基础,建立了一个循环本构模型。模型通过引入塑性应变幅值记忆效应,并在塑性应变记忆项中加入恢复系数,提高了对循环硬化材料单轴棘轮行为的预言能力。将模型应用于316L不锈钢单轴棘轮行为的描述中,模拟不同平均应力、应力幅值下的棘轮应变,均与实验数据吻合较好,证明本文改进的本构模型能合理地描述循环硬化材料的单轴棘轮行为。