An analysis of ductile rupture in notched bars

Ductile fracture in axisymmetric and plane strain notched tensile specimens is analyzed numerically, based on a set of elastic-plastic constitutive relations that account for the nucleation and growth of microvoids. Final material failure by void coalescence is incorporated into the constitutive model via the dependence of the yield function on the void volume fraction. In the analyses the material has no voids initially; but as the voids nucleate and grow, the resultant dilatancy and pressure sensitivity of the macroscopic plastic flow influence the solution significantly. Considering both a blunt notch geometry and a sharp notch geometry in the computations permits a study of the relative roles of high strain and high triaxiality on failure. Comparison is made with published experimental results for notched tensile specimens of high-strength steels. All axisymmetric specimens analyzed fail at the center of the notched section, whereas failure initiation at the surface is found in plane strain specimens with sharp notches, in agreement with the experiments. The results for different specimens are used to investigate the circumstances under which fracture initiation can be represented by a single failure locus in a plot of stress triaxiality vs effective plastic strain.