Multiscale experimental investigations about the cyclic behavior of the 304L SS

This work follows a series of experiments carried out earlier at INSA of Rouen (Hassan, T., Taleb, L., Krishna, S., 2008. Influence of non-proportional loading paths on ratcheting responses and simulations by two recent cyclic plasticity models. Int. J. Plast. 24, 1863–1889). It investigates the elastoplastic cyclic behavior of a 304L stainless steel at room temperature. In a first step the cross path effect on ratcheting is confirmed, as well as the crucial role of the loading path non-proportionality. Strain controlled tests are also conducted for different strain amplitudes and loading paths. Cross-hardening effect appears more important when the shearing sequence is followed by the axial one. Moreover for alternating axial and shearing cycles, this phenomenon occurs after each crossing sequence leading to a very significant strain hardening, at least of the same order as the one obtained after a circular strain path. Yet, the magnitude of the observed over hardening does not necessarily seem a function of the cumulated plastic strain.     

Influence of non-proportional loading on ratcheting responses and simulations by two recent cyclic plasticity models

Aubin and her coworkers conducted a unique set of experiments demonstrating the influence of loading non-proportionality on ratcheting responses of duplex stainless steel. In order to further explore their new observation, a set of experiments was conducted on stainless steel (SS) 304L under various biaxial stress-controlled non-proportional histories. This new set of data reiterated Aubin and her coworkers’ observation and illustrated many new responses critical to model development and validation. Two recent and different classes of cyclic plasticity models, the modified Chaboche model proposed by Bari and Hassan and the version of the multi-mechanism model proposed by Taleb and Cailletaud, are evaluated in terms of their simulations of the SS304L non-proportional ratcheting responses. A modeling scheme for non-proportional ratcheting responses using the kinematic hardening rule parameters in addition to the conventionally used isotropic hardening rule parameter (yield surface size change) in the modified Chaboche model is evaluated. Strengths and weaknesses of the models in simulating the non-proportional ratcheting responses are identified. Further improvements of these models needed for improving the non-proportional ratcheting simulations are suggested in the paper.     

Ratcheting of cyclically hardening and softening materials: II. Multiaxial behavior

Part II of this study is concerned with ratcheting phenomena of cyclically hardening and softening materials under biaxial, cyclic loading. Two sets of biaxial experiments were performed on carbon steel 1018 and stainless steel 304 thin-walled tubes. In the first tyoe of experiment, a constant internal pressure was prescribed while the tubes were cycled axially in a strain-symmetric fashion. This causes ratcheting in the circumferential direction. In the second type of experiment, the axial cycling was carried out under stress control. This loading history results in simultaneous ratcheting in the axial and circumferential directions. In the case of stainless steel 304, the nonproportionality of these loading histories was found to induce significant hardening in addition to that recorded in unaxial loading. Cyclic hardening was found to reduce the rate of ratcheting. In the case of carbon steel 1018, the nonproportionality of the loading paths was found not to influence the induced softening. Cyclic softening in the axial and circumferential directions were found to be uncoupled.The time-independent cyclic plasticity models developed in Part I, suitably extended to multiaxial loading, were used to simulate the biaxial ratcheting experiments. Two methods for modeling the additional hardening/softening of the material due to nonproportional loading, developed by previous investigators, were incorporated in the models. The prediction of circumferential ratcheting is shown again to be sensitive to the kinematic hardening rule of the yield surface incorporated in the models. The performance of the models in predicting the biaxial ratcheting results was found to be rather poor. Several reasons for this poor performance are identified and suggestions for future improvements are made.     

Computational modeling of inelastic large ratcheting strains

A framework for phenomenological hyperelasto-plasticity with initial anisotropy, kinematic hardening as well as anisotropic damage is presented in [Menzel et al., Int. J. Plasticity (2004), in press]. In this contribution, we exploit and extend this framework to include several back-stresses in order to capture the ratcheting response of polycrystalline metals subjected to cyclic stress with non-zero mid-value. The evolution equations for kinematic hardening resemble a linear combination of the multiple-Armstrong–Frederick and the Burlet–Cailletaud models, which are extended to the large strain setting. The capability of the model to capture various phenomenological characteristics, in particular multi-axial ratcheting, is illustrated by numerical examples. Comparisons with uni-axial and bi-axial experimental ratcheting results for carbon steel are given. Finally, the finite element analysis of a simplified railway turnout component subjected to cyclic loading is presented.     

Benchmark experiments and characteristic cyclic plasticity deformation

Key issues in cyclic plasticity modeling are discussed based upon representative experimental observations on several commonly used engineering materials. Cyclic plasticity is characterized by the Bauschinger effect, cyclic hardening/softening, strain range effect, nonproporitonal hardening, and strain ratcheting. Additional hardening is identified to associate with ratcheting rate decay. Proper modeling requires a clear distinction among different types of cyclic plasticity behavior. Cyclic hardening/softening sustains dependent on the loading amplitude and loading history. Strain range effect is common for most engineering metallic materials. Often, nonproportional hardening is accompanied by cyclic hardening, as being observed on stainless steels and pure copper. A clarification of the two types of material behavior can be made through benchmark experiments and modeling technique. Ratcheting rate decay is a common observation on a number of materials and it often follows a power law relationship with the number of loading cycles under the constant amplitude stress controlled condition. Benchmark experiments can be used to explore the different cyclic plasticity properties of the materials. Discussions about proper modeling are based on the typical cyclic plasticity phenomena obtained from testing several engineering materials under various uniaxial and multiaxial cyclic loading conditions. Sufficient experimental evidence points to the unambiguous conclusion that none of the hardening phenomena (cyclic hardening/softening, strain range effect, nonproportional hardening, and strain hardening associated with ratcheting rate decay) is isotropic in nature. None of the hardening behavior can be properly modeled with a change in the yield stress.     

Simulation of ratcheting strain to a high number of cycles under biaxial loading

The Ohno–Wang kinematic hardening rule is modified to incorporate the Burlet–Cailletaud radial evanescence term for an improved simulation of the ratcheting behavior. The Delobelle parameter δ^′ is implemented in the modified model to compromise shakedown of the Burlet–Cailletaud hardening rule and over-prediction of the Ohno–Wang model. An evolution equation is proposed for δ^′ to simulate the ratcheting strain over an extended domain of cycles. Ratcheting tests were conducted on S45C steel under four types of nonproportional axial–torsional loading. The new model is found to yield reasonably accurate predictions of ratcheting strain to a much higher number of cycles compared with other studies.     

Constitutive modeling of cyclic plasticity deformation of a pure polycrystalline copper

Cyclic plasticity experiments were conducted on a pure polycrystalline copper and the material was found to display significant cyclic hardening and nonproportional hardening. An effort was made to describe the cyclic plasticity behavior of the material. The model is based on the framework using a yield surface together with the Armstrong–Frederick type kinematic hardening rule. No isotropic hardening is considered and the yield stress is assumed to be a constant. The backstress is decomposed into additive parts with each part following the Armstrong–Frederick type hardening rule. A memory surface in the plastic strain space is used to account for the strain range effect. The Tanaka fourth order tensor is used to characterize nonproportional loading. A set of material parameters in the hardening rules are related to the strain memory surface size and they are used to capture the strain range effect and the dependence of cyclic hardening and nonproportional hardening on the loading magnitude. The constitutive model can describe well the transient behavior during cyclic hardening and nonproportional hardening of the polycrystalline copper. Modeling of long-term ratcheting deformation is a difficult task and further investigations are required.     

Modified kinematic hardening rule for multiaxial ratcheting prediction

A modified kinematic hardening rule is proposed in which one biaxial loading dependent parameter δ′ connecting the radial evanescence term [(α:n)ndp] in the Burlet–Cailletaud model with the dynamic recovery term of Ohno–Wang kinematic hardening rule is introduced into the framework of the Ohno–Wang model. Compared with multiaxial ratcheting experimental data obtained on 1Cr18Ni9Ti stainless steel in the paper and CS1026 steel conducted by Hassan et al. [Int. J. Plasticity 8 (1992) 117], simulation results by modified model are quite well in all loading paths. The simulations of initial nonlinear part in ratcheting curves can be improved greatly while the evolutional parameter δ′ related to plastic strain accumulation is added into the modified model.     

Implicit finite element formulations for multi-phase transformation in high carbon steel

An anomalous plastic deformation observed during the phase transformation of steels was implemented into the finite element modeling. The constitutive equations for the transformation plasticity originally proposed by Greenwood and Johnson [Greenwood, G.W., Johnson, R.H., 1965. The deformation of metals under small stresses during phase transformation. Proc. Roy. Soc. A 283, 403] and further extended by Leblond et al. [Leblond, J.B., Mottet, G., Devaux, J.C., 1986a. A theoretical and numerical approach to the plastic behavior of steels during phase transformations, I. Derivation of general relations. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 34, 395–409; Leblond, J.B., Mottet, G., Devaux, J.C., 1986b. A theoretical and numerical approach to the plastic behavior of steels during phase transformations, II. Study of classical plasticity for ideal-plastic phases. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 34, 411–432; Leblond, J.B., Devaux, J., Devaux, J.C., 1989a. Mathematical modeling of transformation plasticity in steels, I: case of ideal-plastic phases. Int. J. Plasticity 5, 511–572; Leblond, J.B., 1989b. Mathematical modeling of transformation plasticity in steels, II: coupling with strain hardening phenomena. Int. J. Plasticity 5, 573–591] were modified to consider the thermo-mechanical response of generalized multi-phase steel during phase transformations from austenite at high temperature. An implicit numerical solution procedure to calculate the plastic deformation of each constituent phase was newly proposed and implemented into the general purpose implicit finite element program via user material subroutine. The new algorithms include efficient calculation of consistent tangent modulus for the transformation plasticity and application of general anisotropic yield functions without limitation to the isotropic yield function. Besides the thermo-elastic–plastic constitutive equations, non-isothermal transformation kinetics was characterized by the Johnson–Mehl–Avrami–Kolmogorov (JMAK) equation and additivity relationship for the diffusional transformation, while the model proposed by Koistinen and Marburger was used for the diffusionless transformation. Numerical verifications for the continuous cooling experiments under various loading conditions were conducted to demonstrate the applicability of the developed numerical algorithms to the high carbon steel SK5.     

循环软化45碳钢和循环硬化304不锈钢的棘轮行为实验研究

对循环软化45碳钢的单轴应力循环下的平均应力、应力幅值以及先前应变循环对棘轮效应的影响进行了实验研究;并对循环硬化的304不锈钢进行了多种非比例循环加载路径下路径形状、路径等效应力幅值、平均应变与平均应力对材料棘轮变形行为的影响实验．发现平均应力和应力幅值及其历史对于材料的棘轮行为都有很大的影响．     

Anatomy of coupled constitutive models for ratcheting simulation

This paper critically evaluates the performance of five constitutive models in predicting ratcheting responses of carbon steel for a broad set of uniaxial and biaxial loading histories. The models proposed by Prager, Armstrong and Frederick, Chaboche, Ohno-Wang and Guionnet are examined. Reasons for success and failure in simulating ratcheting by these models are elaborated. The bilinear Prager and the nonlinear Armstrong-Frederick models are found to be inadequate in simulating ratcheting responses. The Chaboche and Ohno-Wang models perform quite well in predicting uniaxial ratcheting responses; however, they consistently overpredict the biaxial ratcheting responses. The Guionnet model simulates one set of biaxial ratcheting responses very well, but fails to simulate uniaxial and other biaxial ratcheting responses. Similar to many earlier studies, this study also indicates a strong influence of the kinematic hardening rule or backstress direction on multiaxial ratcheting simulation. Incorporation of parameters dependent on multiaxial ratcheting responses, while dormant for uniaxial responses, into Chaboche-type kinematic hardening rules may be conducive to improve their multiaxial ratcheting simulations. The uncoupling of the kinematic hardening rule from the plastic modulus calculation is another potentially viable alternative. The best option to achieve a robust model for ratcheting simulations seems to be the incorporation of yield surface shape change (formative hardening) in the cyclic plasticity model.     

Multiaxial ratcheting with advanced kinematic and directional distortional hardening rules

Ratcheting is defined as the accumulation of plastic strains during cyclic plastic loading. Modeling this behavior is extremely difficult because any small error in plastic strain during a single cycle will add to become a large error after many cycles. As is typical with metals, most constitutive models use the associative flow rule which states that the plastic strain increment is in the direction normal to the yield surface. When the associative flow rule is used, it is important to have the shape of the yield surface modeled accurately because small deviations in shape may result in large deviations in the normal to the yield surface and thus the plastic strain increment in multi-axial loading. During cyclic plastic loading these deviations will accumulate and may result in large errors to predicted strains.This paper compares the bi-axial ratcheting simulations of two classes of plasticity models. The first class of models consists of the classical von Mises model with various kinematic hardening (KH) rules. The second class of models introduce directional distortional hardening (DDH) in addition to these various kinematic hardening rules. Directional distortion describes the formation of a region of high curvature on the yield surface approximately in the direction of loading and a region of flattened curvature approximately in the opposite direction. Results indicate that the addition of directional distortional hardening improves ratcheting predictions, particularly under biaxial stress controlled loading, over kinematic hardening alone.     

Evaluation of cyclic plasticity models in ratcheting simulation of straight pipes under cyclic bending and steady internal pressure

This paper evaluates seven cyclic plasticity models for structural ratcheting response simulations. The models evaluated are bilinear (Prager), multilinear (Besseling), Chaboche, Ohno–Wang, Abdel Karim–Ohno, modified Chaboche (Bari and Hassan) and modified Ohno–Wang (Chen and Jiao). The first three models are already available in the ANSYS finite element package, whereas the last four were implemented into ANSYS for this study. Experimental responses of straight steel pipes under cyclic bending with symmetric end rotation history and steady internal pressure were recorded for the model evaluation study. It is demonstrated that when the model parameters are determined from the material response data, none of the models evaluated perform satisfactorily in simulating the straight pipe diameter change and circumferential strain ratcheting responses. A detailed parameter sensitivity study with the modified Chaboche model was conducted to identify the parameters that influence the ratcheting simulations and to determine the ranges of the parameter values over which a genetic algorithm can search for refinement of these values. The refined parameter values improved the simulations of straight pipe ratcheting responses, but the simulations still are not acceptable. Further, improvement in cyclic plasticity modeling and incorporation of structural features, like residual stresses and anisotropy of materials in the analysis will be essential for advancement of low-cycle fatigue response simulations of structures.     

Uniaxial ratcheting and failure behaviors of two steels

The strain cyclic characteristics, ratcheting and failure behaviors of 25CDV4.11 steel and SS304 stainless steel were experimentally studied under uniaxial cyclic tests and at room temperature. The cyclic hardening/softening features of the materials were first observed under uniaxial strain cycling; and then the ratcheting and failure behaviors of the materials were researched in detail under cyclic stressing. The effects of stress amplitude and mean stress on the ratcheting and failure were discussed under uniaxial asymmetrical stress cycling. It is concluded that the ratcheting and failure behaviors of the materials depend greatly on the cyclic softening/hardening features of the materials and the stress values of cyclic loading. Some conclusions useful to understand the fatigue failure of the materials presented under asymmetrical cyclic stressing are obtained.     

ON NONPROPORTIONAL CYCLIC PLASTIC BEHAVIOR OF STEEL 40

An experimental investigation was carried out on the flow characteristicand hardening of steel 40 subjected to complex combined axial-torsional cyclicstraining. For a specific cyclic strain path, the steel has mainly cyclic softeningbehavior when the strain amplitude is small. While with an increase of the effectivestrain amplitude, the softening becomes small, but there is the cyclic softening eventhough the steel is subjected to the cyclic loading by a square strain path. However, thesteel has cyclic additional hardening by a nonproportional path, compared with theproportional cycling. Generally, the additional hardening is small and its historicaleffect is not obvious at small strain amplitude. The additional hardening is remarkableby a cross-triangular strain path of large strain amplitude. The memory of the historyof nonproportional cyclic loading, the direction of plastic flow and the plastic modulusof the steel were also studied.     

Cyclic plastic deformation and cyclic hardening/softening behavior in 304LN stainless steel

Low cycle fatigue experiments have been conducted on 304LN stainless steel in ambient air at room temperature. Uniaxial ratcheting behavior has also been studied on this material and in both engineering and true stress controlling modes. It is shown that material’s cyclic hardening/softening behavior in low cycle fatigue and in ratcheting is dependent not only on material but also on the loading condition. Improvement of ratcheting life and mean stress dependent hardening are observed in the presence of mean stress. A method based on the strain energy density (SED) is used to represent cyclic hardening/softening behavior of the material in this work. The decrease of SED with cycles is an indication that the life in low cycle fatigue and in ratcheting is improved. The SED represents the area of the hysteresis loops.     

An advancement in cyclic plasticity modeling for multiaxial ratcheting simulation

In a search for a constitutive model for ratcheting simulations, the models by Chaboche, Ohno–Wang, McDowell, Jiang–Sehitoglu, Voyiadjis–Basuroychowdhury and AbdelKarim–Ohno are evaluated against a set of uniaxial and biaxial ratcheting responses. With the assumption of invariant shape of the yield surface during plastic loading, the ratcheting simulations for uniaxial loading are primarily a function of the plastic modulus calculation, whereas the simulations for multiaxial loading are sensitive to the kinematic hardening rule of a model. This characteristic of the above mentioned models is elaborated in this paper. It is demonstrated that if all parameters of the kinematic hardening rule are determined from uniaxial responses only, these parameters primarily enable a better plastic modulus calculation. However, in this case the role of the kinematic hardening rule in representing the ratcheting responses for multiaxial loading is under-appreciated. This realization motivated many researchers to incorporate multiaxial load dependent terms or parameters into the kinematic hardening rule. This paper evaluates some of these modified rules and finds that none is general enough to simulate the ratcheting responses consistently for the experiments considered. A modified kinematic hardening rule is proposed using the idea of Delobelle and his co-workers in the framework of the Chaboche model. This new rule introduces only one multiaxial load dependent parameter to the Chaboche model, but performs the best in simulating all the ratcheting responses considered.