Ratchetting under tension–torsion loadings: experiments and modelling

This paper is concerned with the mechanical behaviour of 316 austenitic stainless steel under multiaxial loadings and particular attention is paid to ratchetting under tension–torsion non-proportional loadings. First, a series of uniaxial tests and biaxial tests has been carried out in order to calibrate five different cyclic plasticity models based on an isotropic hardening rule and a non-linear kinematic hardening rule. It is shown that this class of models gives quite good agreement between the experimental and numerical results. Second, another series of ratchetting tests has been carried out under tension–torsion loadings in order to test the prediction capacities of the previous models. It is shown that whereas the models have been calibrated with similar loading paths, four of the five selected models give poor predictions.     

Correlation between swift effects and tension–compression asymmetry in various polycrystalline materials

The Swift phenomenon, which refers to the occurrence of permanent axial deformation during monotonic free-end torsion, has been known for a very long time. While plastic anisotropy is considered to be its main cause, there is no explanation as to why in certain materials irreversible elongation occurs while in others permanent shortening is observed.In this paper, a correlation between Swift effects and the stress–strain behavior in uniaxial tension and compression is established. It is based on an elastic–plastic model that accounts for the combined influence of anisotropy and tension–compression asymmetry. It is shown that, if for a given orientation the uniaxial yield stress in tension is larger than that in compression, the specimen will shorten when twisted about that direction; however, if the yield stress in uniaxial compression is larger than that in uniaxial tension, axial elongation will occur. Furthermore, it is shown that on the basis of a few simple mechanical tests it is possible to predict the particularities of the plastic response in torsion for both isotropic and initially anisotropic materials. Unlike other previous interpretations of the Swift effects, which were mainly based on crystal plasticity and/or texture evolution, it is explained the occurrence of Swift effects at small to moderate plastic strains. In particular, the very good quantitative agreement between model and data for a strongly anisotropic AZ31–Mg alloy confirm the correlation established in this work between tension–compression asymmetry and Swift effects. Furthermore, it is explained why the sign of the axial plastic strains that develop depends on the twisting direction.     

The effect of viscosity,surface tension and non-linearity on Richtmyer–Meshkov instability

A weakly non-linear theoretical model of the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability between two viscous fluids with surface tension is proposed. The model is based on the application of singular perturbations techniques to the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations written for two superposed immiscible fluids. A simple analytical law of interface deformation is obtained, in which the effects of viscosity, surface tension and non-linearities appear under the form of independent terms. The model gives also access to the velocity and pressure distribution in the fluids, which can be of interest for estimating vorticity diffusion in the fluids. A comparison with accurate direct numerical simulations confirms the validity of the proposed theory. The interface deformation law is then applied to typical experimental configurations in order to estimate the relative influence of surface tension, viscosity and non-linearities on the growth of perturbations for each of the chosen cases.     

Triaxial tension–compression tests for multiaxial cyclic plasticity

The aim of this paper is to present triaxial tension–compression tests and a new triaxial specimen devoted to the study of cyclic plasticity under non-proportional loadings. Because the stress state in the central part of the specimen is not homogeneous, the analysis of the tests need a 3D finite element computation. The constitutive equations used in the simulations have been deduced from complex tension–torsion tests. The comparison between the structural analysis and the experimental results allows to determine the accuracy of the set of constitutive equations and if needed to optimize this set by modifying some hardening rules.     

Mechanical and microstructural investigations of an austenitic stainless steel under non-proportional loadings in tension–torsion-internal and external pressure

This paper is concerned with the experimental behaviour of a 316 austenitic stainless steel at room temperature and under non-proportional cyclic and ratchet strainings in tension–torsion-internal and external pressures. The main investigations deal with the over-strengthening due to the multiaxiality of the loadings. A classification of the different kinds of cyclic tests can be established with respect to the increasing maximum over-strengthening. Concerning the ratchetting effect, from tests performed under in or out-of-phase cyclic tension–torsion plus a static stress due to internal pressure, it is shown that the rate of the diametrical ratchetting is an increasing function of the phase lag between the cyclic components. Dislocation substructures resulting from cyclic and ratchetting tests are investigated and various kinds of microstructures are reported. An analysis of these microstructures shows that the over-strengthening is not solely related to the slip multiplicity but also to the development of heterogeneous substructures. It has been also possible to evaluate the intra- and inter-granular back stresses and the effective stress as a function of the strengthening.     

Superelastic behavior in tension–torsion of an initially-textured Ti–Ni shape-memory alloy

A recently-developed crystal-mechanics-based constitutive model for polycrystalline shape-memory alloys [J. Mech. Phys. Solids 49 (2001) 909] is shown to quantitatively predict the superelastic response of an initially-textured Ti–Ni alloy in (i) a proportional-loading, combined tension–torsion experiment, as well as (ii) a path-change, tension–torsion experiment.     

Dual-phase steel sheets under cyclic tension–compression to large strains: Experiments and crystal plasticity modeling

In this work, we develop a physically-based crystal plasticity model for the prediction of cyclic tension–compression deformation of multi-phase materials, specifically dual-phase (DP) steels. The model is elasto–plastic in nature and integrates a hardening law based on statistically stored dislocation density, localized hardening due to geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs), slip-system-level kinematic backstresses, and annihilation of dislocations. The model further features a two level homogenization scheme where the first level is the overall response of a two-phase polycrystalline aggregate and the second level is the homogenized response of the martensite polycrystalline regions. The model is applied to simulate a cyclic tension–compression–tension deformation behavior of DP590 steel sheets. From experiments, we observe that the material exhibits a typical decreasing hardening rate during forward loading, followed by a linear and then a non-linear unloading upon the load reversal, the Bauschinger effect, and changes in hardening rate during strain reversals. To predict these effects, we identify the model parameters using a portion of the measured data and validate and verify them using the remaining data. The developed model is capable of predicting all the particular features of the cyclic deformation of DP590 steel, with great accuracy. From the predictions, we infer and discuss the effects of GNDs, the backstresses, dislocation annihilation, and the two-level homogenization scheme on capturing the cyclic deformation behavior of the material.     

Influence of nanoprecipitates on the creep strength and ductility of a Fe–Ni–Al alloy

Creep studies of a duplex Fe–Ni–Al intermetallic alloy, in two microstructural states, have been carried out at temperatures between 725 and 800 °C (about 0.6 T_m). In the as-cast state, the alloy contains a large volume fraction of nanoprecipitates (50–100 nm) which confer a very high creep strength with a stress exponent of 3 and an activation energy of 280 kJ/mol. The different microstructure obtained in the second state of the alloy, obtained after annealing at 1000 °C for 24 h, leads to a much lower creep strength with a higher stress exponent as well as a large value of the apparent activation energy. While volume diffusion appears to control creep in the as-cast state, both thermal and athermal processes seem to contribute to the different creep rate of material in the annealed state. The latter also exhibits a much larger ductility (12%) relative to that observed in the as-cast material (3%), due to the presence of large numbers of interfaces between the two phases present where strain incompatibilities can be accommodated.     

The role of texture in tension–compression asymmetry in polycrystalline NiTi

The purpose of the present study is to thoroughly understand the stress–strain behavior of polycrystalline NiTi deformed under tension versus compression. To do this, a micro-mechanical model is used which incorporates single crystal constitutive relationships and experimentally measured polycrystalline texture into the self-consistent formulation. For the first time it is quantitatively demonstrated that texture measurements coupled with a micro-mechanical model can accurately predict tension/compression asymmetry in NiTi shape memory alloys. The predicted critical transformation stress levels and transformation stress–strain slopes under both tensile and compressive loading are consistent with experimental results. For textured polycrystalline NiTi deformed under tension it is demonstrated that the martensite evolution is very abrupt, consistent with the Luders type deformation experimentally observed. The abrupt transformation under tension is attributed to the fact that the majority of the grains are oriented along the [111] crystallographic direction, which is soft under tensile loading. Since single crystals of the [111] orientation are hard under compression it is also demonstrated that under compression the martensite in textured polycrystalline NiTi evolves relatively slower.     

Elastic–plastic behavior of steel sheets under in-plane cyclic tension–compression at large strain

Elastic–plastic behavior of two types of steel sheets for press-forming (an aluminum-killed mild steel and a dual-phase high strength steel of 590 MPa ultimate tensile strength) under in-plane cyclic tension–compression at large strain (up to 25% strain for mild steel and 13% for high strength steel) have been investigated. From the experiments, it was found that the cyclic hardening is strongly influenced by cyclic strain range and mean strain. Transient softening and workhardening stagnation due to the Bauschinger effect, as well as the decrease in Young's moduli with increasing prestrain, were also observed during stress reversals. Some important points in constitutive modeling for such large-strain cyclic elasto-plasticity are discussed by comparing the stress–strain responses calculated by typical constitutive models of mixed isotropic–kinematic hardening with the corresponding experimental observations.     

Adiabatic shear banding in high speed machining of Ti–6Al–4V: experiments and modeling

An experimental analysis of orthogonal cutting of a Ti–6Al–4V alloy is proposed. Cutting speeds are explored in a range from 0.01 to 73 m/s by using an universal high-speed testing machine and a ballistic set-up. The evolution of the cutting force in terms of the cutting speed and the development of adiabatic shear banding are analyzed. The shear band width and the distance between bands have been determined by micrographic observations. Their dependence upon the cutting velocity is analyzed. A modeling is proposed which restitutes well this velocity dependence.     

Alkali-activation reactivity of chemosynthetic Al2O3–2SiO2 powders and their 27Al and 29Si magic-angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance spectra

Pure Al₂O₃–2SiO₂ powders were prepared by sol–gel and coprecipitation methods, and their alkali-activation reactivities were compared. The alkali-activation reactivity of the powder prepared by the sol–gel method was higher than that of the powder prepared by the coprecipitation method. The powders were investigated by ²⁷Al and ²⁹Si magic-angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MAS NMR) to understand the relationship between their structure and alkali-activation reactivity. The ²⁷Al MAS NMR data showed that the five-coordinate Al content of the powder prepared by the sol–gel method was higher than that of the powder prepared by coprecipitation. The higher content of five-coordinate Al corresponded to higher alkali-activation reactivity. The ²⁹Si MAS NMR data showed that for the powder prepared by the sol–gel method, silicon was replaced by aluminum at secondary coordination sites of the central Si atoms during calcination. However, for the powder prepared by single-batch coprecipitation, the main change was from a low degree of polycondensation to a high degree of polycondensation.     

Diffusion–reaction of aluminum and oxygen in thermally grown Al2O3 oxide layers

The diffusion–reaction of aluminum (Al) and oxygen (O), to form thermally grown oxide (TGO) layers in thermal barrier coatings (TBCs), is studied through an analytical model. A nonsymmetrical radial basis function approach is used to numerically solve the mass balance equations that predict the TGO growth. Correct boundary conditions for the Al and O reactions are laid out using scaling arguments. The Damköhler number shows that the O–Al reaction is several orders of magnitude faster than diffusion. In addition, a comparison between aluminum and oxygen diffusivities indicates that TGO growth is governed by aluminum diffusion. The results are compared with experimental measurements on air plasma spray-deposited TBCs treated at 1,373 K with exposure times ranging from 1 to 1700 hours. We found that, for several time decades, the thickness of the thermally grown layer has power law dependence of time with an exponent of ½, following the diffusion control mechanism. At later times, however, the presence of other oxides and additional kinetics modify the diffusive exponent.     

Adiabatic shear banding and scaling laws in chip formation with application to cutting of Ti–6Al–4V

The phenomenon of adiabatic shear banding is analyzed theoretically in the context of metal cutting. The mechanisms of material weakening that are accounted for are (i) thermal softening and (ii) material failure related to a critical value of the accumulated plastic strain. Orthogonal cutting is viewed as a unique configuration where adiabatic shear bands can be experimentally produced under well controlled loading conditions by individually tuning the cutting speed, the feed (uncut chip thickness) and the tool geometry. The role of cutting conditions on adiabatic shear banding and chip serration is investigated by combining finite element calculations and analytical modeling. This leads to the characterization and classification of different regimes of shear banding and the determination of scaling laws which involve dimensionless parameters representative of thermal and inertia effects. The analysis gives new insights into the physical aspects of plastic flow instability in chip formation. The originality with respect to classical works on adiabatic shear banding stems from the various facets of cutting conditions that influence shear banding and from the specific role exercised by convective flow on the evolution of shear bands. Shear bands are generated at the tool tip and propagate towards the chip free surface. They grow within the chip formation region while being convected away by chip flow. It is shown that important changes in the mechanism of shear banding take place when the characteristic time of shear band propagation becomes equal to a characteristic convection time. Application to Ti–6Al–4V titanium are considered and theoretical predictions are compared to available experimental data in a wide range of cutting speeds and feeds. The fundamental knowledge developed in this work is thought to be useful not only for the understanding of metal cutting processes but also, by analogy, to similar problems where convective flow is also interfering with adiabatic shear banding as in impact mechanics and perforation processes. In that perspective, cutting speeds higher than those usually encountered in machining operations have been also explored.     

Modeling the evolution of anisotropy in Al–Li alloys: application to Al–Li 2090-T8E41

It is widely reported in current literature that the precipitation hardened Al–Li sheet alloys exhibit extremely high anisotropy in yield (and ultimate tensile) strength, which is well beyond what can be explained as purely a consequence of the strong crystallographic texture in the material (e.g. J. Mater. Sci. Eng. A265, 1999, 100). This paper presents a crystal plasticity based modeling framework that will (i) facilitate the segregation of the contributions to the overall anisotropy from crystallographic texture and precipitation hardening, and (ii) correlate the contribution from precipitate hardening to either co-planar slip activity or the non-coplanar slip activity in the cold-working step prior to the aging heat treatment. More specifically, a Taylor-type (fully-constrained) crystal plasticity model was formulated to predict the yield strength of the fully processed sheet and its anisotropy, while accounting for the initial texture in the hot-worked sheet, its evolution during the cold-working step prior to aging, and the inhomogeneous nucleation of the T₁ phase platelets (these are known to form on {111} planes, but not usually in equal amounts on the different {111} planes in a given crystal). In an effort to illustrate the methodology developed in the study, a limited set of experiments was conducted on Al–Li 2090-T8E41 alloy sheet. Off-axis stretches were applied on the sheet at room temperature prior to the aging treatment, and the mechanical anisotropy in the fully processed sheets was characterized by performing tension tests on coupons cut from the sheet at 0, 30, 45, 60 and 90° to the original rolling direction (RD). Both the initial texture in the sheet and its evolution during the different off-axis stretches were characterized. The alloys processed in this study showed pronounced anisotropy. The application of the methodology developed in this study revealed that much of the observed anisotropy in this particular data set could be explained by accounting for the texture in the sample in the processed condition. Although the data set available was inadequate to establish clear correlations of the anisotropy with preferential hardening mechanisms arising from either co-planar or non-co-planar slip activity during the off-axis stretch, there were indications favoring the latter. This case study, however, illustrates the application of the methodology developed in this study to obtain better insight into the nature of the anisotropy in these sheets and its physical origin.     

Deformation mechanism in a coarse-grained Mg–Al–Zn alloy at elevated temperatures

Deformation behavior of a coarse-grained AZ31 magnesium alloy was investigated at elevated temperatures using commercial rolled sheet. The as-received material had equiaxed grains with an average grain size of 130 μm. The tensile tests revealed that the material exhibited high ductility of 196% at 648 K and 3×10⁻⁵ s⁻¹. Stress exponent, grain size exponent and activation energy were characterized to clarify the deformation mechanism. It was suggested from the data analysis that the high ductility was attributed to the deformation mechanism of glide-controlled dislocation creep. In addition, constitutive equation was developed for the present alloy.     

Effect of the silicon-carbide micro- and nanoparticle size on the thermo-elastic and time-dependent creep response of a rotating Al–SiC composite cylinder

The history of stresses and creep strains of a rotating composite cylinder made of an aluminum matrix reinforced by silicon carbide particles is investigated. The effect of uniformly distributed SiC micro- and nanoparticles on the initial thermo-elastic and time-dependent creep deformation is studied. The material creep behavior is described by Sherby’s constitutive model where the creep parameters are functions of temperature and the particle sizes vary from 50 nm to 45.9 μm. Loading is composed of a temperature field due to outward steady-state heat conduction and an inertia body force due to cylinder rotation. Based on the equilibrium equation and also stress-strain and strain-displacement relations, a constitutive second-order differential equation for displacements with variable and time-dependent coefficients is obtained. By solving this differential equation together with the Prandtl–Reuss relation and the material creep constitutive model, the history of stresses and creep strains is obtained. It is found that the minimum effective stresses are reached in a material reinforced by uniformly distributed SiC particles with the volume fraction of 20% and particle size of 50 nm. It is also found that the effective and tangential stresses increase with time at the inner surface of the composite cylinder; however, their variation at the outer surface is insignificant.