Influences of particle size and interface energy on the stress concentration induced by the oblate spheroidal particle and the void nucleation mechanism

Separation of the particle–matrix interface and breakage of the second-phase particle are two main void nucleation mechanisms, which are directly associated with the stress concentration factors (SCFs) at the interface and within the particle, respectively. This work investigates the coupled effects of particle size and particle shape on these stress concentrations by solving an infinite solid containing an oblate spheroidal particle under remote stress boundary condition. The phenomenological strain plasticity theory by Fleck–Hutchinson [Fleck, N.A., Hutchinson, J.W., 1997. Strain gradient plasticity. In: Hutchinson, J.W., Wu, T.Y. (Eds.), Advance in Applied Mechanics, vol. 33. Academic Press, New York, pp. 295–361] is adopted to capture the size effect, various particle aspect ratios are considered to depict the particle shape effect and an interfacial energy concept is introduced to settle the double-traction equilibrium problem at the matrix–particle interface. By using a Ritz procedure, solutions about the stress concentrations are numerically achieved and three main results are found. First, the interfacial normal stress near the particle pole, the interfacial shear stress and the particle opening stress are dramatically elevated and their distributions are significantly modified by decrease in the particle size. Second, this particle size effect is influenced by the remote effective strain, remote stress triaxiality and the interfacial energy to different extent. Finally, the particle shape effect is coupled with this particle size effect, and the more oblate the particle is, the more significant the size effect on SCF elevation is. These findings are helpful for us to understand deeply the void nucleation mechanism at the micron scale.     

RVE-based studies on the coupled effects of void size and void shape on yield behavior and void growth at micron scales

The present paper extends the Gurson and GLD models [Gurson, A.L., 1977. Continuum theory of ductile rupture by void nucleation and growth, Part I—yield criteria and flow rules for porous ductile media. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 99, 2–15; Gologanu, M., Leblond, J.B., Devaux, J., 1993. Approximate models for ductile metals containing non-spherical voids—case of axisymmetric prolate ellipsoidal cavities. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 41, 1723–1754; Gologanu, M., Leblond, J.B., Devaux, J., 1994. Approximate models for ductile metals containing non-spherical voids—case of axisymmetric oblate ellipsoidal cavities. J. Eng. Mater. Technol. 116, 290–297] to involve the coupled effects of void size and void shape on the macroscopic yield behavior of non-linear porous materials and on the void growth. A spheroidal representative volume element (RVE) under a remote axisymmetric homogenous strain boundary condition is carefully analyzed. A wide range of void aspect ratios covering the oblate spheroidal, spherical and prolate spheroidal void are taken into account to reflect the shape effect. The size effect is captured by the Fleck–Hutchinson phenomenological strain gradient plasticity theory [Fleck, N.A., Hutchinson, J.W., 1997. Strain gradient plasticity. In: Hutchinson, J.W., Wu, T.Y. (Eds.), Advance in Applied Mechanics, vol. 33, Academic Press, New York, pp. 295–361]. A new size-dependent damage model like the Gurson and GLD models is developed based on the traditional minimum plasticity potential principle. Consequently, the coupled effects of void size and void shape on yield behavior of porous materials and void growth are discussed in detail. The results indicate that the void shape effect on the yield behavior of porous materials and on the void growth can be modified dramatically by the void size effect and vice versa. The applied stress triaxiality plays an important role in these coupled effects. Moreover, there exists a cut-off void radius r_c, which depends only on the intrinsic length l₁ associated with the stretch strain gradient. Voids of effective radius smaller than the critical radius r_c are less susceptible to grow. These findings are helpful to our further understanding to some impenetrable micrographs of the ductile fracture surfaces.     

A physically motivated anisotropic tensorial representation of damage with separate functions for void nucleation,growth, and coalescence

A phenomenological anisotropic damage progression formulation for porous ductile metals with second phases is described through mechanisms of void nucleation, growth and coalescence. The model is motivated from fracture mechanisms and microscale physical observations. To describe the creation of new pores, the decohesion at the particle–matrix interface and the fragmentation of second phase particles, the void-crack nucleation equation is related to several microstructural parameters (fracture toughness, length scale parameter, particle size, volume and fraction of second phase), the plastic strain level, and the stress state. Nucleation is represented by a general symmetric second rank tensor, and its components are proportional to the absolute value of the plastic strain rate components. Based on the Rice and Tracey model, void growth is a scalar function of the trace of damage tensor and the positive triaxiality. Like nucleation, coalescence is a second rank tensor governed by the plastic strain rate tensor and the stress state. The coalescence threshold is related to the void length scale for void impingement and void sheet mechanisms. The coupling of damage with the Bammann–Chiesa–Johnson (BCJ) plasticity model is written in the thermodynamic framework and derives from the concept of effective stress assuming the hypothesis of energy equivalence. A full-implicit algorithm is used for the stress integration and the determination of the consistent tangent operator. Finally, macroscale correlations to cast A356 AL alloy and wrought 6061-T6 AL alloy experimental data are completed with predictive void-crack evolution to illustrate the applicability of the anisotropic damage model.     

Plasticity and ductile fracture of IF steels: experiments and micromechanical modeling

If one aims at the simulation of plasticity and failure of multiphase materials, the choice of an appropriate material law is of major importance. Plasticity models for porous metals contain, in addition to the yield surface and the flow potential, also functions describing the void nucleation, dependent on some macroscopically observable quantities, and the growth of these voids. In this paper, a micromechanically based method to develop a void nucleation function for porous plasticity models is proposed which is valid for all possible microstructures as long as the amount of second phase particles is low (i.e. the particles do not interact with respect to the stress and strain fields), and as long as the particles are large enough (above 0.1 μm) justifying a continuum mechanical approach. The method described consists of two stages: In the first stage, the microstructure is investigated via a finite element model. The FE model implicitly contains the effects of the shape of the precipitates, of the material parameters of both the matrix and the precipitates, of the void nucleation hypothesis (by the assumption of “nucleation limits” for characteristic damage-related quantities), and of the applied stress state. In the second stage, during postprocessing, the volume fraction of precipitates as well as the influences of the particle orientation distribution, size distribution, and size dependence of the damage-related quantities are taken into account. The model is applied to the microstructure of IF (Interstitially Free) steel, a material with a ductile matrix and rigid second phase particles of cubical shape. This microstructure is particularly suited for investigating shape and size effects. The model shows that either the size effect or the shape effect dominate the void nucleation behavior: in the case of particles of roughly the same size, the size distribution will hardly alter the nucleation strain distribution obtained by taking into account only the shape and orientation effects. For particles of very different sizes, the size effect will completely override the rather “sharp” original distribution regarding particle shape and orientation.     

Coupling effects of void size and void shape on the growth of prolate ellipsoidal microvoid

The combined effects of void size and void shape on the void growth are studied by using the classical spectrum method. An infinite solid containing an isolated prolate spheroidal void is considered to depict the void shape effect and the Fleck-Hutchinson phenomenological strain gradient plasticity theory is employed to capture the size effects. It is found that the combined effects of void size and void shape are mainly controlled by the remote stress triaxiality. Based on this, a new size-dependent void growth model similar to the Rice-Tracey model is proposed and an important conclusion about the size-dependent void growth is drawn: the growth rate of the void with radius smaller than a critical radius r_c may be ignored. It is interesting that r_c is a material constant independent of the initial void shape and the remote stress triaxiality.The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (A10102006) and the New Century Excellent Talents in Universities of China. The English text was polished by Keren Wang.     

Void-shape effects on strength properties of nanoporous materials

In this paper, strength properties of nanoporous materials with spheroidal nanocavities are investigated via a Molecular Dynamics approach applied to a nanovoided aluminium single crystal, in the case of a fixed porosity level, and for prolate, oblate and spherical void shapes. Estimates of the effective strength domain are provided, by considering several mechanical loadings including axisymmetric and shear strain-rate states. Void-shape effects are quantified for different values of the void aspect ratio, mainly resulting in an overall weakening of the sample as the spheroidal nanovoid assumes either an oblate or a prolate shape, in comparison to the case of a spherical void. Finally, it is observed that the computed strength profiles exhibit the following specific features: (i) a strong dependence on the hydrostatic, second-order and third-order deviatoric stress invariants, (ii) more significant void-shape effects for triaxial-expansion stress states with a small hydrostatic component, and (iii) a more pronounced influence of the spheroid shape, as the aspect ratio is varied, in the presence of an oblate nanovoid rather than of a prolate one.     

Void growth and coalescence in anisotropic plastic solids

Large strain finite element calculations of unit cells subjected to triaxial axisymmetric loadings are presented for plastically orthotropic materials containing a periodic distribution of aligned spheroidal voids. The spatial distribution of voids and the plastic flow properties of the matrix are assumed to respect transverse isotropy about the axis of symmetry of the imposed loading so that a two-dimensional axisymmetric analysis is adequate. The parameters varied pertain to load triaxiality, matrix anisotropy, initial porosity and initial void shape so as to include the limiting case of penny-shaped cracks. Attention is focussed on comparing the individual and coupled effects of void shape and material anisotropy on the effective stress–strain response and on the evolution of microstructural variables. In addition, the effect of matrix anisotropy on the mode of plastic flow localization is discussed. From the results, two distinct regimes of behavior are identified: (i) at high triaxialities, the effect of material anisotropy is found to be persistent, unlike that of initial void shape and (ii) at moderate triaxialities the influence of void shape is found to depend strongly on matrix anisotropy. The findings are interpreted in light of recent, microscopically informed models of porous metal plasticity. Conversely, observations are made in relation to the relevance of these results in the development and calibration of a broader set of continuum damage mechanics models.     

Toward a phenomenological description of hydrogen-induced decohesion at particle/matrix interfaces

A phenomenological traction-separation law that describes the cohesion of an inclusion/matrix interface in the presence of hydrogen is suggested such that the associated reversible work of separation during fast decohesion is exactly equal to that predicted by the thermodynamic theory of Hirth and Rice (Metall. Trans. 11A (1980) 1501) and Rice and Wang (Mater. Sci. Eng. A 107 (1989) 23) in the corresponding limit. The law is used to study interfacial debonding around an elastic inclusion imbedded in an elastoplastically deforming matrix while transient hydrogen transport takes place in the matrix, the inclusion, and the opening interfacial channel. Interfacial separation is modeled through cohesive elements and is simulated incrementally within the updated Lagrangian formulation scheme used to model bulk material elastoplasticity. For material data pertaining to nickel-base alloy 690, the numerical results indicate that both hydrogen-induced reduction of interfacial cohesion and matrix-softening lead to a reduction of stress at which void nucleation commences relatively to case of a hydrogen-free material. On the other hand, there is a competitive effect on the void nucleation strain: while cohesion reduction decreases this strain, matrix softening increases it, and its final value depends on the outcome of this competition. Thus the suggested model of the hydrogen effect on cohesion, although calibrated in accordance with the fast-separation limit (small cohesion reduction) of the Hirth-Rice-Wang theory, does allow for internal material failure with a clear and substantial effect on the external macroscopic loads.     

A molecular dynamics study of void growth and coalescence in single crystal nickel

Molecular dynamics simulations using Modified Embedded Atom Method (MEAM) potentials were performed to analyze material length scale influences on damage progression of single crystal nickel. Damage evolution by void growth and coalescence was simulated at very high strain rates (10⁸–10¹⁰/s) involving four specimen sizes ranging from ≈5000 to 170,000 atoms with the same initial void volume fraction. 3D rectangular specimens with uniform thickness were provided with one and two embedded cylindrical voids and were subjected to remote uniaxial tension at a constant strain rate. Void volume fraction evolution and the corresponding stress–strain responses were monitored as the voids grew under the increasing applied tractions.The results showed that the specimen length scale changes the dislocation pattern, the evolving void aspect ratio, and the stress–strain response. At small strain levels (0–20%), a damage evolution size scale effect can be observed from the damage-strain and stress–strain curves, which is consistent with dislocation nucleation argument of Horstemeyer et al. [Horstemeyer, M.F., Baskes, M.I., Plimpton, S.J., 2001a. Length scale and time scale effects on the plastic flow of FCC metals. Acta Mater. 49, pp. 4363–4374] playing a dominant role. However, when the void volume fraction evolution is plotted versus the applied true strain at large plastic strains (>20%), minimal size scale differences were observed, even with very different dislocation patterns occurring in the specimen. At this larger strain level, the size scale differences cease to be relevant, because the effects of dislocation nucleation were overcome by dislocation interaction.This study provides fodder for bridging material length scales from the nanoscale to the larger scales by examining plasticity and damage quantities from a continuum perspective that were generated from atomistic results.     

Estimation of crack density due to fragmentation of brittle ellipsoidal inhomogeneities embedded in a ductile matrix

Summary An estimation is found for the energy release due to fragmentation of a brittle inhomogeneity of ellipsoidal shape embedded in a ductile matrix under remote static loading. In the state of completed fragmentation the inhomogeneity is replaced by a void with zero stiffness. Thus, the problem of estimating the energy release reduces to the eigenstrain problem solved by Eshelby. The energy release calculated for prolate spheroidal inhomogeneities is used in the balance of energy to determine the crack density. The application to the geological system of garnet inhomogeneities embedded in a quartz matrix is considered.     

Damage in a viscoplastic material part I: Cavity growth

The exact velocity, stress and strain rate fields around a spheroidal cavity in an infinite linear viscoplastic compressible matrix are derived analytically by the ‘three function approach’. The perturbation of the velocity field due to the cavity is the superposition of three independent modes, inducing homothetic growth, pure distortion and both volume and shape changes, respectively. This solution is then used to investigate the velocity field around a spheroidal cavity in a nonlinear viscous compressible material by means of a variational principle. The behaviour of such damaged linear and nonlinear materials will be discussed in a forthcoming companion paper.The importance of the reference strain, while studying void growth in a compressible material, is emphasized. If the axial strain is chosen as a reference, void growth is found to be enhanced at low triaxiality ratios, but lowered at high triaxiality ratios in a compressible matrix relative to an incompressible one. Finally, the transition from a power law to a linear law with intercept, at increasing strain rates, is shown to reduce damage growth rate.     

Void interaction and coalescence in polymeric materials

Beyond pressure-sensitivity, plastic deformation of glassy polymers exhibits intrinsic softening followed by progressive rehardening at large strains. This highly nonlinear stress–strain behavior is captured by a constitutive model introduced in this work. In the first part of the paper, we focus on void growth and coalescence in an axisymmetric representative material volume consisting of a single large void and a population of discrete microvoids. Our study shows that microvoid cavitation, enhanced by strain softening, accelerates the process of void coalescence resulting in brittle-like failure at lowered stresses and strains. Pressure-sensitivity also reduces stress-carrying capacity as well as influences the strain for void coalescence; plastic dilatancy effects are relatively milder. In the second part of the paper, we introduce a population of discrete spherical voids within a three-dimensional computational model to study void growth and damage ahead of a crack front. Our studies reveal a distinctive change in the deformed void shape from oblate to prolate when strain softening is followed by high rehardening at large plastic strains. By contrast, an extended strain softening regime promotes oblacity and facilitates multiple void interaction and their cooperative growth over large distances ahead of the crack front. This multi-void failure mechanism is exacerbated by pressure-sensitivity.     

COUPLING EFFECTS OF VOID SHAPE AND VOID SIZE ON THE GROWTH OF AN ELLIPTIC VOID IN A FIBER-REINFORCED HYPER-ELASTIC THIN PLATE

The growth of a prolate or oblate elliptic micro-void in a fiber reinforced anisotropic incompressible hyper-elastic rectangular thin plate subjected to uniaxial extensions is studied within the framework of finite elasticity. Coupling effects of void shape and void size on the growth of the void are paid special attention to. The deformation function of the plate with an isolated elliptic void is given, which is expressed by two parameters to solve the differential equation. The solution is approximately obtained from the minimum potential energy principle. Deformation curves for the void with a wide range of void aspect ratios and the stress distributions on the surface of the void have been obtained by numerical computation. The growth behavior of the void and the characteristics of stress distributions on the surface of the void are captured. The combined effects of void size and void shape on the growth of the void in the thin plate are discussed. The maximum stresses for the void with different sizes and different void aspect ratios are compared.     

含弧形裂纹复合陶瓷强度的尺度效应

认为含弧形裂纹复合陶瓷由随机方向的三相胞元与有效介质构成,用细观力学的方法研究了复合陶瓷的损伤失效和强度。首先确定三相胞元的外载应变,再依据复合陶瓷在损伤过程中的细观应力场和广义热力学力,计算出三相胞元内基体和颗粒的损伤等效应力,当基体和颗粒的损伤等效应力分别等于两者的极限应力时,得到基体和颗粒的破坏应力。然后,根据混合型应力强度因子计算弧形裂纹扩展时的能量释放率,进而得到界面的破坏应力。最后综合考虑基体、颗粒和和界面损伤影响,获得含弧形裂纹复合陶瓷的宏观强度及其尺度效应。     

Effective Permeability of a Porous Medium with Spherical and Spheroidal Vug and Fracture Inclusions

Vugs and fractures are common features of carbonate formations. The presence of vugs and fractures in porous media can significantly affect pressure and flow behavior of a fluid. A vug is a cavity (usually a void space, occasionally filled with sediments), and its pore volume is much larger than the intergranular pore volume. Fractures occur in almost all geological formations to some extent. The fluid flow in vugs and fractures at the microscopic level does not obey Darcy’s law; rather, it is governed by Stokes flow (sometimes is also called Stokes’ law). In this paper, analytical solutions are derived for the fluid flow in porous media with spherical- and spheroidal-shaped vug and/or fracture inclusions. The coupling of Stokes flow and Darcy’s law is implemented through a no-jump condition on normal velocities, a jump condition on pressures, and generalized Beavers–Joseph–Saffman condition on the interface of the matrix and vug or fracture. The spheroidal geometry is used because of its flexibility to represent many different geometrical shapes. A spheroid reduces to a sphere when the focal length of the spheroid approaches zero. A prolate spheroid degenerates to a long rod to represent the connected vug geometry (a tunnel geometry) when the focal length of the spheroid approaches infinity. An oblate spheroid degenerates to a flat spheroidal disk to represent the fracture geometry. Once the pressure field in a single vug or fracture and in the matrix domains is obtained, the equivalent permeability of the vug with the matrix or the fracture with matrix can be determined. Using the effective medium theory, the effective permeability of the vug–matrix or fracture–matrix ensemble domain can be determined. The effect of the volume fraction and geometrical properties of vugs, such as the aspect ratio and spatial distribution, in the matrix is also investigated. It is shown that the higher volume fraction of the vugs or fractures enhances the effective permeability of the system. For a fixed-volume fraction, highly elongated vugs or fractures significantly increase the effective permeability compared with shorter vugs or fractures. A set of disconnected vugs or fractures yields lower effective permeability compared with a single vug or fracture of the same volume fraction.     

Formulation of a damage internal state variable model for amorphous glassy polymers

The following article proposes a damage model that is implemented into a glassy, amorphous thermoplastic thermomechanical inelastic internal state variable framework. Internal state variable evolution equations are defined through thermodynamics, kinematics, and kinetics for isotropic damage arising from two different inclusion types: pores and particles. The damage arising from the particles and crazing is accounted for by three processes of damage: nucleation, growth, and coalescence. Nucleation is defined as the number density of voids/crazes with an associated internal state variable rate equation and is a function of stress state, molecular weight, fracture toughness, particle size, particle volume fraction, temperature, and strain rate. The damage growth is based upon a single void growing as an internal state variable rate equation that is a function of stress state, rate sensitivity, and strain rate. The coalescence internal state variable rate equation is an interactive term between voids and crazes and is a function of the nearest neighbor distance of voids/crazes and size of voids/crazes, temperature, and strain rate. The damage arising from the pre-existing voids employs the Cocks–Ashby void growth rule. The total damage progression is a summation of the damage volume fraction arising from particles and pores and subsequent crazing. The modeling results compare well to experimental findings garnered from the literature. Finally, this formulation can be readily implemented into a finite element analysis.     

Size effects on void growth in single crystals with distributed voids

The effect of void size on void growth in single crystals with uniformly distributed cylindrical voids is studied numerically using a finite deformation strain gradient crystal plasticity theory with an intrinsic length parameter. A plane strain cell model is analyzed for a single crystal with three in-plane slip systems. It is observed that small voids allow much larger overall stress levels than larger voids for all the stress triaxialities considered. The amount of void growth is found to be suppressed for smaller voids at low stress triaxialities. Significant differences are observed in the distribution of slips and on the shape of the deformed voids for different void sizes. Furthermore, the orientation of the crystalline lattice is found to have a pronounced effect on the results, especially for the smaller void sizes.     

A void–crack nucleation model for ductile metals

A phenomenological void–crack nucleation model for ductile metals with secondphases is described which is motivated from fracture mechanics and microscale physicalobservations. The void–crack nucleation model is a function of the fracture toughness of theaggregate material, length scale parameter (taken to be the average size of the second phaseparticles in the examples shown in this writing) , the volume fraction of the second phase, strainlevel, and stress state. These parameters are varied to explore their effects upon the nucleationand damage rates. Examples of correlating the void–crack nucleation model to tension data in theliterature illustrate the utility of the model for several ductile metals. Furthermore, compression,tension, and torsion experiments on a cast Al–Si–Mg alloy were conducted to determinevoid–crack nucleation rates under different loading conditions. The nucleation model was thencorrelated to the cast Al–Si–Mg data as well.