Study of lattice strains in magnesium alloy AZ31 based on a large strain elastic-viscoplastic self-consistent polycrystal model

The recently developed large strain elastic visco-plastic self-consistent (EVPSC) model, which incorporates both slip and twinning deformation mechanisms, is used to study the lattice strain evolution in extruded magnesium alloy AZ31 under uniaxial tension and compression. The results are compared against in-situ neutron diffraction measurements done on the same alloy. For the first time, the effects of stress relaxation and strain creep on lattice strain measurements in respectively displacement controlled and load controlled in-situ tests are numerically assessed. It is found that the stress relaxation has a significant effect on the lattice strain measurements. It is also observed that although the creep does not significantly affect the trend of the lattice strain evolution, a better agreement with the experiments is found if creep is included in the simulations.     

基于晶体塑性理论研究铝材料高压高应变率下的强度特性

为了了解金属材料在极端加载下复杂动态响应过程中的多种机制和效应，重点针对Al材料在高压、高应变率加载下的塑性变形机制，在经典晶体塑性模型的基础上，对其中的非线性弹性、位错动力学和硬化形式进行改进，建立适用于高压、高应变率加载下的热弹-黏塑性晶体塑性模型。该模型可以较好地描述单晶铝和多晶铝材料屈服强度随压力的变化过程，相比宏观模型，用该模型还获得了多晶Al材料在冲击加载下的织构演化规律，揭示了织构择优取向行为和压力的关系。     

Crystal plasticity model with enhanced hardening by geometrically necessary dislocation accumulation

A strain gradient dependent crystal plasticity approach is used to model the constitutive behaviour of polycrystal FCC metals under large plastic deformation. Material points are considered as aggregates of grains, subdivided into several fictitious grain fractions: a single crystal volume element stands for the grain interior whereas grain boundaries are represented by bi-crystal volume elements, each having the crystallographic lattice orientations of its adjacent crystals. A relaxed Taylor-like interaction law is used for the transition from the local to the global scale. It is relaxed with respect to the bi-crystals, providing compatibility and stress equilibrium at their internal interface. During loading, the bi-crystal boundaries deform dissimilar to the associated grain interior. Arising from this heterogeneity, a geometrically necessary dislocation (GND) density can be computed, which is required to restore compatibility of the crystallographic lattice. This effect provides a physically based method to account for the additional hardening as introduced by the GNDs, the magnitude of which is related to the grain size. Hence, a scale-dependent response is obtained, for which the numerical simulations predict a mechanical behaviour corresponding to the Hall-Petch effect. Compared to a full-scale finite element model reported in the literature, the present polycrystalline crystal plasticity model is of equal quality yet much more efficient from a computational point of view for simulating uniaxial tension experiments with various grain sizes.     

Dislocation-based micropolar single crystal plasticity: Comparison of multi- and single criterion theories

Two new formulations of micropolar single crystal plasticity are presented within a geometrically linear setting. The construction of yield criteria and flow rules for generalized continuum theories with higher-order stresses can be done in one of two ways: (i) a single criterion can be introduced in terms of a combined equivalent stress and inelastic rate or (ii) or individual criteria can be specified for each conjugate stress/inelastic kinematic rate pair, a so-called multi-criterion theory. Both single and multi-criterion theories are developed and discussed within the context of dislocation-based constitutive models. Parallels and distinctions are made between the proposed theories and some of the alternative generalized crystal plasticity models that can be found in the literature. Parametric numerical simulations of a constrained thin film subjected to simple shear are conducted via finite element analysis using a simplified 2-D version of the fully 3-D theory to highlight the influence of specific model components on the resulting deformation under both loading and unloading conditions. The deformation behavior is quantified in terms of the average stress-strain response and the local shear strain and geometrically necessary dislocation density distributions. It is demonstrated that micropolar single crystal plasticity can qualitatively capture the same range of behaviors as slip gradient-based models, while offering a simpler numerical implementation and without introducing plastic slip rates as generalized traction-conjugate velocities subject to an additional microforce balance.     

Suppressed plastic deformation at blunt crack-tips due to strain gradient effects

Large deformation gradients occur near a crack-tip and strain gradient dependent crack-tip deformation and stress fields are expected. Nevertheless, for material length scales much smaller than the scale of the deformation gradients, a conventional elastic–plastic solution is obtained. On the other hand, for significant large material length scales, a conventional elastic solution is obtained. This transition in behaviour is investigated based on a finite strain version of the Fleck–Hutchinson strain gradient plasticity model from 2001. The predictions show that for a wide range of material parameters, the transition from the conventional elastic–plastic to the elastic solution occurs for length scales ranging from 0.001 times the size of the plastic zone to a length scale of the same order of magnitude as the plastic zone.     

On the strain hardening and texture evolution in high manganese steels: Experiments and numerical investigation

We present a systematic investigation on the strain hardening and texture evolution in high manganese steels where twinning induced plasticity (TWIP) plays a significant role for the materials' plastic deformation. Motivated by the stress–strain behavior of typical TWIP steels with compositions of Fe, Mn, and C, we develop a mechanistic model to explain the strain-hardening in crystals where deformation twinning dominates the plastic deformation. The classical single crystal plasticity model accounting for both dislocation slip and deformation twinning are then employed to simulate the plastic deformation in polycrystalline TWIP steels. While only deformation twinning is activated for plasticity, the simulations with samples composed of voronoi grains cannot fully capture the texture evolution of the TWIP steel. By including both twinning deformation and dislocation slip, the model is able to capture both the stress–strain behaviors and the texture evolution in Fe–Mn–C TWIP steel in different boundary-value problems. Further analysis on the strain contributions by both mechanisms suggests that deformation twinning plays the dominant role at the initial stage of plasticity in TWIP steels, and dislocation slip becomes increasingly important at large strains.     

A dislocation-based constitutive law for pure Zr including temperature effects

In this work, a single crystal constitutive law for multiple slip and twinning modes in single phase hcp materials is developed. For each slip mode, a dislocation population is evolved explicitly as a function of temperature and strain rate through thermally-activated recovery and debris formation and the associated hardening includes stage IV. A stress-based hardening law for twin activation accounts for temperature effects through its interaction with slip dislocations. For model validation against macroscopic measurement, this single crystal law is implemented into a visco-plastic-self-consistent (VPSC) polycrystal model which accounts for texture evolution and contains a subgrain micromechanical model for twin reorientation and morphology. Slip and twinning dislocations interact with the twin boundaries through a directional Hall–Petch mechanism. The model is adjusted to predict the plastic anisotropy of clock-rolled pure Zr for three different deformation paths and at four temperatures ranging from 76 K to 450 K (at a quasi-static rate of 10⁻³ 1/s). The model captures the transition from slip-dominated to twinning-dominated deformation as temperature decreases, and identifies microstructural mechanisms, such as twin nucleation and twin–slip interactions, where future characterization is needed.     

Predictions of forming limit diagrams using a rate-dependent polycrystal self-consistent plasticity model

In the sheet-metal forming industry, forming-limit strains have been a useful tool for quantifying metals formability. However, the experimental measurement of these strains is a difficult, time consuming and expensive process. It would be useful if strains calculated with a theoretical model could replace many of the experimental measurements. In this research, we analyze forming-limit strains of metals using a rate-dependent plasticity, polycrystal, self-consistent (VPSC) model in conjunction with the Marciniak–Kuczynski (M–K) approach. Previous researchers have studied forming limit diagrams (FLDs) based on the full-constraints Taylor model. This is the first time, to the authors’ knowledge, that the self-consistent approach has been introduced to simulate the polycrystal FLD behavior. Numerous microstructural factors characterizing the material have a strong influence on the FLD, so our model includes the effects of slip hardening, strain-rate sensitivity, anisotropy and initial texture. Finally, the calculation of the FLD with a more realistic scale transition successfully predicts some of the experimental tendencies that the Taylor model cannot reproduce for aluminum alloys AA6116-T4 and AA5182-O.     

A selfconsistent formulation for the prediction of the anisotropic behavior of viscoplastic polycrystals with voids

In this work we consider the presence of ellipsoidal voids inside polycrystals subjected to large strain deformation. For this purpose, the originally incompressible viscoplastic selfconsistent (VPSC) formulation of Lebensohn and Tomé (Acta Metall. Mater. 41 (1993) 2611) has been extended to deal with compressible polycrystals. In doing this, both the deviatoric and the spherical components of strain-rate and stress are accounted for. Such an extended model allows us to account for the void and for porosity evolution, while preserving the anisotropy and crystallographic capabilities of the VPSC model. The formulation can be adjusted to match the Gurson model, in the limit of rate-independent isotropic media and spherical voids. We present several applications of this extended VPSC model, which address the coupling between texture, plastic anisotropy, void shape, triaxiality, and porosity evolution.     

A self-consistent plasticity theory for modeling the thermo-mechanical properties of irradiated FCC metallic polycrystals

A self-consistent theoretical framework is developed to model the thermo-mechanical behaviors of irradiated face-centered cubic (FCC) polycrystalline metals at low to intermediate homologous temperatures. In this model, both irradiation and temperature effects are considered at the grain level with the assist of a tensorial plasticity crystal model, and the elastic-visocoplastic self-consistent method is applied for the scale transition from individual grains to macroscopic polycrystals. The proposed theory is applied to analyze the mechanical behaviors of irradiated FCC copper. It is found that: (1) the numerical results match well with experimental data, which includes the comparison of results for single crystals under the load in different directions, and for polycrystals with the influences of irradiation and temperature. Therefore, the feasibility and accuracy of the present model are well demonstrated. (2) The main irradiation effects including irradiation hardening, post-yield softening, strain-hardening coefficient (SHC) dropping and the non-zero stress offset are all captured by the proposed model. (3) The increase of temperature results in the decrease of yield strength and SHC. The former is attributed to the weakened dislocation–defect interaction, while the latter is due to the temperature-strengthened dynamic recovery of dislocations through the thermally activated mechanism. The present model may provide a theoretical guide to predict the thermo-mechanical behaviors of irradiated FCC metals for the selection of structural materials in nuclear equipment.     

延性单晶非均匀变形的三维有限元模拟

对延性单晶在拉伸载荷作用下的应变局域化和颈缩等非均匀变形过程进行了三维有限元数值模拟。将相关晶体塑性本构模型及一种新的数值积分方法补充到ABAQUS6.1商用有限元软件中。该方法的特点是，利用晶体塑性的动力学方程，获得一个关于晶体弹性变形梯度的演化方程，采用半隐式积分方案进行求解。本文推导出一种新的应力变本构矩阵。按此方式更新本构矩阵，计算速度和计算稳定性大大提高。加载方式，边界条件和变形程度等因素影响着滑移系的启动状况，这是平面模型所不能预测的。本文利用三维有限元方法模拟了不同取向下滑移系的启动状况，全面地考虑了FCC单晶材料12个可能滑移系在变形过程中的启动状况，合理地模拟了FCC面心立方单晶沿不同取向加载时晶轴旋转导致的应变局域化和颈缩等非均匀变形过程。     

On the coupling of plastic slip and deformation-induced twinning in magnesium: A variationally consistent approach based on energy minimization

The present paper is concerned with the analysis of the deformation systems in single crystal magnesium at the micro-scale and with the resulting texture evolution in a polycrystal representing the macroscopic mechanical response. For that purpose, a variationally consistent approach based on energy minimization is proposed. It is suitable for the modeling of crystal plasticity at finite strains including the phase transition associated with deformation-induced twinning. The method relies strongly on the variational structure of crystal plasticity theory, i.e., an incremental minimization principle can be derived which allows to determine the unknown slip rates by computing the stationarity conditions of a (pseudo) potential. Phase transition associated with twinning is modeled in a similar fashion. More precisely, a solid-solid phase transition corresponding to twinning is assumed, if this is energetically favorable. Mathematically speaking, the aforementioned transition can be interpreted as a certain rank-one convexification. Since such a scheme is computationally very expensive and thus, it cannot be applied to the analysis of a polycrystal, a computationally more efficient approximation is elaborated. Within this approximation, the deformation induced by twinning is decomposed into the reorientation of the crystal lattice and simple shear. The latter is assumed to be governed by means of a standard Schmid-type plasticity law (pseudo-dislocation), while the reorientation of the crystal lattice is considered, when the respective plastic shear strain reaches a certain threshold value. The underlying idea is in line with experimental observations, where dislocation slip within the twinned domain is most frequently seen, if the twin laminate reaches a critical volume. The resulting model predicts a stress-strain response in good agreement with that of a rank-one convexification method, while showing the same numerical efficiency as a classical Taylor-type approximation. Consequently, it combines the advantages of both limiting cases. The model is calibrated for single crystal magnesium by means of the channel die test and finally applied to the analysis of texture evolution in a polycrystal. Comparisons of the predicted numerical results to their experimental counterparts show that the novel model is able to capture the characteristic mechanical response of magnesium very well.     

Mechanism-based strain gradient crystal plasticity—II. Analysis

In part I of this series (Mechanism-based strain gradient crystal plasticity—I. Theory. J. Mech. Phys. Sol. (2005), accepted for publication), we have proposed a theory of mechanism-based strain gradient crystal plasticity (MSG-CP) to model the effect of inherent anisotropy of a crystal lattice on size-dependent non-uniform plastic deformation at micron and submicron length scales. In the present paper, several example problems are investigated to show how crystal anisotropy is reflected by the MSG-CP theory.     

基于有限变形单晶塑性滑移的微观热-力耦合模型及其有限元计算

基于率相关的晶体塑性滑移理论,论文考虑晶体内部塑性变形产生的热以及快速热冲击作用下温度急剧变化产生热应力的热-力双向耦合效应,建立起微观单晶的瞬态热-弹-塑性耦合模型,推导出与温度有关的剪应变率和弹塑性切模量公式.根据论文建立的模型,对ABAQUS软件进行二次开发[1],数值模拟出<001>/{100}单晶Cu在单轴拉伸状态下的应力、应变与温度的关系和弹性模量的变化,结果如下:轴向应力随温度升高先呈线性增加再呈非线性减小,轴向应变随温度增加而增加;弹性模量随塑性变形的增加而降低,与分子动力学模拟的趋势[2]是一致的.数值实验表明,论文建立的模型和算法是正确合理的,且计算量远远小于分子动力学模拟.     

Dislocation-mediated strain hardening in tungsten: Thermo-mechanical plasticity theory and experimental validation

A self-consistent thermo-mechanical model to study the strain-hardening behavior of polycrystalline tungsten was developed and validated by a dedicated experimental route. Dislocation–dislocation multiplication and storage, as well dislocation-grain boundary (GB) pinning were the major mechanisms underlying the evolution of plastic deformation, thus providing a link between the strain hardening behavior and material's microstructure. The microstructure of the polycrystalline tungsten samples has been thoroughly investigated by scanning and electron microscopy. The model was applied to compute stress–strain loading curves of commercial tungsten grades, in the as-received and as-annealed states, in the temperature range of 500–1000 °C. Fitting the model to the independent experimental results obtained using a single crystal and as-received polycrystalline tungsten, the model demonstrated its capability to predict the deformation behavior of as-annealed samples in a wide temperature range and applied strain. The relevance of the dislocation-mediated plasticity mechanisms used in the model have been validated using transmission electron microscopy examination of the samples deformed up to different amounts of strain. On the basis of the experimental validation, the limitations of the model are determined and discussed.     

Forming simulation of aluminum sheets using an anisotropic yield function coupled with crystal plasticity theory

This paper describes the application of a coupled crystal plasticity based microstructural model with an anisotropic yield criterion to compute a 3D yield surface of a textured aluminum sheet (continuous cast AA5754 aluminum sheet). Both the in-plane and out-of-plane deformation characteristics of the sheet material have been generated from the measured initial texture and the uniaxial tensile curve along the rolling direction of the sheet by employing a rate-dependent crystal plasticity model. It is shown that the stress–strain curves and R-value distribution in all orientations of the sheet surface can be modeled accurately by crystal plasticity if a “finite element per grain” unit cell model is used that accounts for non-uniform deformation as well as grain interactions. In particular, the polycrystal calculation using the Bassani and Wu (1991) single crystal hardening law and experimental electron backscatter data as input has been shown to be accurate enough to substitute experimental data by crystal plasticity data for calibration of macroscopic yield functions. The macroscopic anisotropic yield criterion CPB06ex2 (Plunkett et al., 2008) has been calibrated using the results of the polycrystal calculations and the experimental data from mechanical tests. The coupled model is validated by comparing its predictions with the anisotropy in the experimental yield stress ratio and strain ratios at 15% tensile deformation. The biaxial section of the 3D yield surface calculated directly by crystal plasticity model and that predicted by the phenomenological model calibrated with experimental and crystal plasticity data are also compared. The good agreement shows the strength of the approach. Although in this paper, the Plunkett et al. (2008) yield function is used, the proposed methodology is general and can be applied to any yield function. The results presented here represent a robust demonstration of implementing microscale crystal plasticity simulation with measured texture data and hardening laws in macroscale yield criterion simulations in an accurate manner.     

An effective computational algorithm for rate-independent crystal plasticity based on a single crystal yield surface with an application to tube hydroforming

Up to now, several computational methods have been proposed for crystal plasticity models. The main objective of these computational methods has been to overcome the problem with the non-uniqueness of active slip systems during the plastic deformation of a single crystal. Crystal plasticity models based on a single crystal yield function have been proposed as alternative algorithms to overcome this problem. But the problem with these models is that they use a highly non-linear yield function for the crystal, which makes them computationally expensive. In this paper, a computational method is proposed that would modify a single crystal yield function in order to make it computationally efficient. Also to better capture experimental data, a new parameter is introduced into the single crystal yield function to make it more flexible. For verification, this crystal plasticity model was directly applied for the simulation of hydroforming of an extruded aluminum tube under complex strain paths. It was found that the current model is considerably faster than the previous crystal plasticity model based on a power-law type single crystal yield surface. Due to its computational efficiency, the current crystal plasticity model can also be used to calculate the anisotropy coefficients of phenomenological yield functions.     

Numerical modeling of formability of extruded magnesium alloy tubes

In this paper, a constitutive framework based on a rate-dependent crystal plasticity theory is employed to simulate the large strain deformation phenomena in hexagonal closed-packed (HCP) metals such as magnesium. The new framework is incorporated into in-house codes. Simulations are performed using the new crystal plasticity model in which crystallographic slip and deformation twinning are the principal deformation mechanisms. Simulations of various stress states (uniaxial tension, uniaxial compression and the so-called ring hoop tension test) for the magnesium alloy AM30 are performed and the results are compared with experimental observations of specimens deformed at 200 °C. Numerical simulations of forming limit diagrams (FLDs) are also performed using the Marciniak–Kuczynski (M–K) approach. With this formulation, the effects of crystallographic slip and deformation twinning on the FLD can be assessed.     

A cyclic plasticity model for single crystals

The Armstrong–Frederick type kinematic hardening rule was invoked to capture the Bauschinger effect of the cyclic plastic deformation of a single crystal. The yield criterion and flow rule were built on individual slip systems. Material memory was introduced to describe strain range dependent cyclic hardening. The experimental results of copper single crystals were used to evaluate the cyclic plasticity model. It was found that the model was able to accurately describe the cyclic plastic deformation and properly reflect the dislocation substructure evolution. The well-known three distinctive regimes in the cyclic stress–strain curve of the copper single crystals oriented for single slip can be reproduced by using the model. The model can predict the enhanced hardening for crystals oriented for multislip, showing the model's ability to describe anisotropic cyclic plasticity. For a given loading history, the model was able to capture not only the saturated stress–strain response but also the detailed transient stress–strain evolution. The model was used to predict the cyclic plasticity under a high–low loading sequence. Both the stress–strain responses and the microstructural evolution can be appropriately described through the slip system activation.     

Study of a drawing-quality sheet steel. II: Forming-limit curves by experiments and micromechanical simulations

In Part I of the current paper, we showed the results of uniaxial-tension tests, through-thickness and plane-strain compression experiments, quantitative texture – orientation distribution function – evaluations and Lankford coefficient measurements. These data were used for calibration and verification of a visco-plastic self-consistent (VPSC) polycrystal-plasticity simulation code for predicting a steel sheet’s ability to be stretched and deep drawn. Lankford coefficients are one, although incomplete, measure of a steel’s drawing quality. In order to obtain a deeper insight and better verification of the simulation code, we measured the forming-limit curve, FLC, for the same steel sheet. To make these measurements we stretched circle-gridded sheets of material with a punch and die. Samples had both a flat-sided and hourglass geometry and ranged from 20 to 80 mm in width. The 80 mm wide sample completely filled the die. With this range of sample sizes, we spanned all of the stress states applicable to a FLC, from uniaxial to biaxial tension. Our FLC curve had the classic “V” shape typical of drawing-quality steel, with a minimum safe forming strain of about 0.35 in plane-strain deformation and a safe forming strain of nearly 0.45 in balanced biaxial stretching. To model the FLC behavior, we used the same VPSC model and calibration employed in Part I. In order to obtain a necking instability in the calculation, a Marciniak defect was implemented into the VPSC model. The severity of the defect was adjusted to match the measured instability strain, 0.35, in plane-strain deformation. Both hardening laws fit in Part I were used to calculate the FLC. In the positive biaxial quadrant of the FLC, the limit strains predicted by the power law closely follow the measured uniform deformations, while the saturation law appears to over predict the limit strains. In uniaxial-tension, it was the opposite. The power-law hardening predictions seemed excessive. However, if we consider the FLC curve to be a band of finite width, both hardening laws and the VPSC formulation capture the essence of the FLC data.