A new constitutive model for shear banding instability in metallic glass

Inelastic deformation of metallic glass is through shear banding, characterized by significantly localized deformation and emerged expeditiously under certain stress state. This study establishes a new constitutive model addressing the physical origin of the shear banding. In the modeling, the atomic structural change and the free volume generation are embodied by the plastic shear strain and the associated dilatation. The rugged free energy landscape is adopted to naturally reflect the rate-independent flow stress and flow serrations. Based on this, the conditions for the onset of shear banding instability are established, which enables the explicit calculation of the shear band inclination angle and its extension speed. The study concludes that shear band angle is significantly influenced by the diltancy factor and pressure sensitivity, that a shear band does not increase its thickness once emanated from a deformation unit, that the spreading speed of a shear band is intersonic, and that more shear bands, which lead to higher ductility, can be induced by high strain rates or by the introduction of a second material phase. The analysis also demonstrates that the ductility of metallic glass depends on the sample geometry and/or the stress state.     

Notch sensitivity in nanoscale metallic glass specimens: Insights from continuum simulations

Recent experiments have shown that nano-sized metallic glass (MG) specimens subjected to tensile loading exhibit increased ductility and work hardening. Failure occurs by necking as opposed to shear banding which is seen in bulk samples. Also, the necking is generally observed at shallow notches present on the specimen surface. In this work, continuum finite element analysis of tensile loading of nano-sized notched MG specimens is conducted using a thermodynamically consistent non-local plasticity model to clearly understand the deformation behavior from a mechanics perspective. It is found that plastic zone size in front of the notch attains a saturation level at the stage when a dominant shear band forms extending across the specimen. This size scales with an intrinsic material length associated with the interaction stress between flow defects. A transition in deformation behavior from quasi-brittle to ductile becomes possible when this critical plastic zone size is larger than the uncracked ligament length. These observations corroborate with atomistic simulations and experimental results.     

A finite-deformation constitutive model for bulk metallic glass composites

The focus of this study is the development of an elastic-viscoplastic, three-dimensional, finite-deformation constitutive model to describe the large deformation behavior of bulk metallic glass (BMG) composite. A macroscopic theoretical formulation is proposed based on thermodynamic considerations to describe the response at ambient temperature and pressure, as well as at different strain rates. A constitutive equation is derived using the principle of thermodynamics and the augmenting of free energy. This is done by assuming that deformation within the constituent phases of the composite is affine; kinetic equations defining plastic shear and evolution of free volume concentration are then derived. The constitutive model is subsequently implemented in a finite-element program (Abaqus/Explicit) via a user-defined material subroutine. Numerical predictions are compared with experimental results from tests on La-based in situ BMG composite (La–Al–Cu–Ni) specimens cast in-house; this demonstrates that the model is able to describe the material behavior observed.     

Size effects on tensile and compressive strengths in metallic glass nanowires

Shear localization induced brittleness is the main drawback of metallic glasses which restricts their practical applications. Previous experiments have provided insights on how to suppress shear localization by reducing the sample size of metallic glasses to the order of 100 nm. In order to reveal the size effects and associated deformation mechanisms of metallic glasses in an even finer scale, we perform large-scale atomistic simulations for the uniaxial compression and tension of metallic glass nanowires. The simulation results show that, as the diameter of metallic glass samples decreases from 45 nm to 8 nm, the tensile yield strength increases while the compressive yield strength decreases. Homogeneous flow is observed as the governing deformation mechanism in all simulated metallic glass samples, where plastic shearing tends to initiate on the sample surface and propagate into the interior. To rationalize the size dependence of yield strengths, we propose a theoretical model based on the concept of surface stress and Mohr–Coulomb criterion. The theoretical predictions agree well with the simulation results, implying the important role of surface stress on the yielding of MGs below 100 nm. Finally, a discussion about the size effects of strength in metallic glasses at different length scales is provided. Our results suggest that the shear band energy and surface stress might be the two crucial parameters in determining the critical size required for the transition from shear localization to homogeneous deformation in MGs.     

Constitutive model for plastic deformation of nanocrystalline materials with shear band

A phase mixture model was used to study the plastic deformation behaviors in hardening stage of nanocrystalline materials. The material was considered as a composite of grain interior phase and grain boundary (GB) phase. The constitutive equations of the two phases were determined in term of their main deformation mechanisms. In softening stage, a shear band deformation mechanism was presented and the corresponding constitutive relation was established. Numerical simulations have shown that the predications fit well with experimental data. The investigation using the finite-element method (FEM) provided a direct insight into quantifying shear localization effect in nanocrystalline materials.     

Coupled thermo-mechanical modelling of bulk-metallic glasses: Theory, finite-element simulations and experimental verification

A three-dimensional, finite-deformation-based constitutive model to describe the behavior of metallic glasses in the supercooled liquid region has been developed. By formulating the theory using the principles of thermodynamics and the concept of micro-force balance [Gurtin, M., 2000. On the plasticity of single crystals: free energy, microforces, plastic-strain gradients. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 48, 989-1036], a kinetic equation for the free volume concentration is derived by augmenting the Helmholtz free energy used for a conventional metallic alloy with a flow-defect free energy which depends on the free volume concentration and its spatial gradient. The developed constitutive model has also been implemented in the commercially available finite-element program ABAQUS/Explicit (2005) by writing a user-material subroutine. The constitutive parameters/functions in the model were calibrated by fitting the constitutive model to the experimental simple compression stress-strain curves conducted under a variety of strain-rates at a temperature in the supercooled liquid region [Lu, J., Ravichandran, G., Johnson, W., 2003. Deformation behavior of the Zr-Ti-Cu-Ni-Be bulk metallic glass over a wide range of strain-rates and temperatures. Acta Mater. 51, 3429-3443].With the model calibrated, the constitutive model was able to reproduce the simple compression stress-strain curves for jump-in-strain-rate experiments to good accuracy. Furthermore stress-strain responses for simple compression experiments conducted at different ambient temperatures within the supercooled liquid region were also accurately reproduced by the constitutive model. Finally, shear localization studies also show that the constitutive model can reasonably well predict the orientation of shear bands for compression experiments conducted at temperatures within the supercooled liquid region [Wang, G., Shen, J., Sun, J., Lu, Z., Stachurski, Z., Zhou, B., 2005. Compressive fracture characteristics of a Zr-based bulk metallic glass at high test temperatures. Mater. Sci. Eng. A 398, 82-87].     

A theory of amorphous solids undergoing large deformations,with application to polymeric glasses

This paper develops a continuum theory for the elastic–viscoplastic deformation of amorphous solids such as polymeric and metallic glasses. Introducing an internal-state variable that represents the local free-volume associated with certain metastable states, we are able to capture the highly non-linear stress–strain behavior that precedes the yield-peak and gives rise to post-yield strain softening. Our theory explicitly accounts for the dependence of the Helmholtz free energy on the plastic deformation in a thermodynamically consistent manner. This dependence leads directly to a backstress in the underlying flow rule, and allows us to model the rapid strain-hardening response after the initial yield-drop in monotonic deformations, as well as the Bauschinger-type reverse-yielding phenomena typically observed in amorphous polymeric solids upon unloading after large plastic deformations. We have implemented a special set of constitutive equations resulting from the general theory in a finite-element computer program. Using this finite-element program, we apply the specialized equations to model the large-deformation response of the amorphous polymeric solid polycarbonate, at ambient temperature and pressure. We show numerical results to some representative problems, and compare them against corresponding results from physical experiments.     

Yielding and intrinsic plasticity of Ti–Zr–Ni–Cu–Be bulk metallic glass

Bulk metallic glass with composition Ti₄₀Zr₂₅Ni₈Cu₉Be₁₈ exhibits considerably high compressive yield stress, significant plasticity (with a concomitant vein-like fracture morphology) and relatively low density. Yielding and intrinsic plasticity of this alloy are discussed in terms of its thermal and elastic properties. An influence of normal stresses acting on the shear plane is evidenced by: (i) the fracture angle (<45°) and (ii) finite-element simulations of nanoindentation curves, which require the use of a specific yield criterion, sensitive to local normal stresses acting on the shear plane, to properly match the experimental data. The ratio between hardness and compressive yield strength (constraint factor) is analyzed in terms of several models and is best adjusted using a modified expanding cavity model incorporating a pressure-sensitivity index defined by the Drucker–Prager yield criterion. Furthermore, comparative results from compression tests and nanoindentation reveal that deformation also causes strain softening, a phenomenon which is accompanied with the occurrence of serrated plastic flow and results in a so-called indentation size effect (ISE). A new approach to model the ISE of this metallic glass using the free volume concept is presented.     

Effects of microscopic boundary conditions on the deformation behavior of small-volume metallic glasses

Although large-volume metallic glasses (MGs) are susceptible to shear localization due to their intrinsically strain-softening response, recent experiments and molecular dynamics simulations have shown that small-volume MGs samples are able to exhibit work hardening response. Here, we seek to address two issues regarding the mechanical response of small-volume MGs at low homologous temperatures from a continuum-based modeling perspective: (1) are MGs capable of exhibiting a work hardening response, and (2) what is the physical mechanism which causes its work hardening response?Along with implementing a recently-developed finite-deformation, strain gradient plasticity-based constitutive model for MGs into a self-developed finite-element code, we study the tensile response of small-volume MG samples of various sizes through finite-element simulations. Our simulations show that small-volume MG samples are capable of exhibiting a work hardening response provided the following conditions are met: (a) the sample size is small enough, and (b) the appropriate microscopic boundary conditions for the free volume are imposed on the sample.     

Evolution of shear bands in bulk metallic glasses under dynamic loading

Shear band spacing in Zr-based bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) under dynamic loads is found to vary with position and local strain rate in the indented region. To investigate the dependence of shear band evolution characteristics on local strain rate and normal stress, a micromechanical model based on momentum diffusion is proposed. The thermo-mechanical model takes into account the normal stress dependence of yield stress, the free volume theory and the associated viscosity change within the shear band region. Temperature rise is obtained from the balance between the heat diffusion to the adjacent regions from a shear band and the heat generation due to the accumulated plastic work in a shear band. The parametric study has revealed that thermal effects play a minor role when the critical shear displacement is below 10 nm (as in nanoindentation) but become significant when the shear displacement accumulated in a shear band is of the order of hundreds of nanometers (as in uniaxial compression and in dynamic indentations). Finally, it is found that the normal stress plays a crucial role in the deformation behavior of BMGs by not only decreasing the time for shear band formation but also increasing the temperature rise significantly.     

Damage in edge cracking of rolled metal slabs

Materials get damaged under shear deformations. Edge cracking is one of the most serious damage to the metal rolling industry, which is caused by the shear damage process and the evolution of anisotropy. To investigate the physics of the edge cracking process, simulations of a shear deformation for an orthotropic plastic material are performed. To perform the simulation, this paper proposes an elasto-aniso-plastic constitutive model that takes into account the evolution of the orthotropic axes by using a bases rotation formula, which is based upon the slip process in the plastic deformation. It is found through the shear simulation that the void can grow in shear deformations due to the evolution of anisotropy and that stress triaxiality in shear deformations of (induced) anisotropic metals can develop as high as in the uniaxial tension deformation of isotropic materials, which increases void volume. This echoes the same physics found through a crystal plasticity based damage model that porosity evolves due to the grain-to-grain interaction. The evolution of stress components, stress triaxiality and the direction of the orthotropic axes in shear deformations are discussed.     

Roles of plastic spin in shear banding

In this paper, the effects of plastic spin on shear banding and simple shear are examined systematically. Three types of plastic constitutive model with plastic spin are considered: (i) a non-coaxial model in which the direction of the plastic strain rate depends on that of the stress rate; (ii) a strain-softening model based on the J₂ flow theory; and (iii) the pressure-sensitive porous plasticity model. All the constitutive models are formulated in viscoplastic forms and in conjunction with non-local concepts that have been recently focused and discussed. First, behavior in simple shear is examined by numerical analysee with the aforementioned constitutive models. Moreover, some experimental evidences for stress response to simple shear are shown; that is, several large torsion tests of metal tubes and bars are carried out. Next, finite element simulations of shear banding in plane strain tension are performed. A critical effect of plastic spin on shear banding is observed for the noncoaxial model, while an almost negligible effect is observed for the porous model. The identical effects of plastic spin are observed, whether nonlocality exists or not. Finally, we discuss the relationship between the behavior in simple shear and the shear band formation. It is emphasized that this is a critical issue in predicting shear banding in macroscopic grounds.     

Non-local crystal plasticity model with intrinsic SSD and GND effects

A strain gradient-dependent crystal plasticity approach is presented to model the constitutive behaviour of polycrystal FCC metals under large plastic deformation. In order to be capable of predicting scale dependence, the heterogeneous deformation-induced evolution and distribution of geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs) are incorporated into the phenomenological continuum theory of crystal plasticity. Consequently, the resulting boundary value problem accommodates, in addition to the ordinary stress equilibrium condition, a condition which sets the additional nodal degrees of freedom, the edge and screw GND densities, proportional (in a weak sense) to the gradients of crystalline slip. Next to this direct coupling between microstructural dislocation evolutions and macroscopic gradients of plastic slip, another characteristic of the presented crystal plasticity model is the incorporation of the GND-effect, which leads to an essentially different constitutive behaviour than the statistically stored dislocation (SSD) densities. The GNDs, by their geometrical nature of locally similar signs, are expected to influence the plastic flow through a non-local back-stress measure, counteracting the resolved shear stress on the slip systems in the undeformed situation and providing a kinematic hardening contribution. Furthermore, the interactions between both SSD and GND densities are subject to the formation of slip system obstacle densities and accompanying hardening, accountable for slip resistance. As an example problem and without loss of generality, the model is applied to predict the formation of boundary layers and the accompanying size effect of a constrained strip under simple shear deformation, for symmetric double-slip conditions.     

Hydrogen induced shear localization of the plastic flow in metals and alloys

Hydrogen enhanced localized plasticity (HELP) is a viable mechanism for hydrogen embrittlement supported by experimental observations. According to the HELP mechanism, hydrogen induced premature failures result from hydrogen induced plastic instability which leads to hydrogen assisted localized ductile processes. The objective of this work is to reveal the role of hydrogen in possibly localizing the macroscopic deformation into bands of intense shear using solid mechanics methodology. The hydrogen effect on material deformation is modeled through the hydrogen induced volume dilatation and the reduction in the local flow stress upon hydrogen dissolution into the lattice. Hydrogen in assumed to reside in both normal interstitial lattice sites (NILS) and reversible traps associated with the plastic deformation. The analysis of the plastic deformation and the conditions for plastic flow localization are carried out in plane strain uniaxial tension. For a given initial hydrogen concentration in the unstressed specimen, a critical macroscopic strain is identified at which shear localization commences.     

Randomness and slip avalanches in gradient plasticity

While localization of deformation at macroscopic scales has been documented and carefully characterized long ago, it is only recently that systematic experimental investigations have demonstrated that plastic flow of crystalline solids on mesoscopic scales proceeds in a strongly heterogenous and intermittent manner. In fact, deformation is characterized by intermittent bursts (‘slip avalanches’) the sizes of which obey power-law statistics. In the spatial domain, these avalanches produce characteristic deformation patterns in the form of slip lines and slip bands. Unlike to the case of macroscopic localization where gradient plasticity can capture the width and spacing of shear bands in the softening regime of the stress–strain graph, this type of mesoscopically jerky like localized plastic flow is observed in spite of a globally convex stress–strain relationship and may not be captured by standard deterministic continuum modelling. We thus propose a generalized constitutive model which includes both second-order strain gradients and randomness in the local stress–strain relationship. These features are related to the internal stresses which govern dislocation motion on microscopic scales. It is shown that the model can successfully describe experimental observations on slip avalanches as well as the associated surface morphology characteristics.     

Mode II fracture behavior of a Zr-based bulk metallic glass

Shear band formation and fracture are characterized during mode II loading of a Zr-based bulk metallic glass. The measured mode II fracture toughness, K_IIc=75±4 MPa√m, exceeds the reported mode I fracture toughness by ∼4 times, suggesting that normal or mean stresses play a significant role in the deformation process at the crack tip. This effect is explained in light of a mean stress modified free volume model for shear localization in metallic glasses. Thermal imaging of deformation at the mode II crack tip further reveals that shear bands initiate, arrest, and reactivate along the same path, indicating that flow in the shear band leads to permanent changes in the glass structure that retain a memory of the shear band path. The measured temperature increase within the shear band is a fraction of a degree. However, heat dissipation models indicate that the temperature could have exceeded the glass transition temperature for less than 1 ms immediately after the shear band formed. It is shown that this time scale is sufficient for mechanical relaxation slightly above the glass transition temperature.     

金属玻璃基复合材料的变形行为及本构关系研究综述

金属玻璃及其复合材料因其优良的力学性能而具有良好的应用前景,相关研究方兴未艾. 本文主要总结国内外的研究成果并结合本课题组的最新研究工作,针对块体金属玻璃基复合材料的变形行为、增韧机理和本构关系研究现状进行较为全面的综述. 首先,对近几十年来在块体金属玻璃基体材料的变形行为与失效机理以及本构关系研究方面的丰硕成果进行简要回顾. 其次,从实验研究和数值模拟两方面,重点对金属玻璃基复合材料的变形行为与失效机理研究成果进行介绍,总结了金属玻璃基复合材料的塑性变形、增韧机理及影响因素. 然后,对金属玻璃基复合材料的本构关系研究最新进展进行评述,重点介绍了均匀化方法在该领域的应用. 作为代表,较为详细地介绍了作者新近提出的一个二次均匀化的方法,并在此基础上,结合纳米孔洞作为自变量的失效判据而建立了本构模型,该模型对金属玻璃基复合材料的变形和失效行为进行了合理预测. 最后,对该领域的研究现状进行简单的总结,并对未来的研究问题进行展望.      

Shear stability of metallic glasses

The effect of sample size on the shear deformation and compressive plasticity of different metallic glasses were investigated. The experimental results showed that the deformation and fracture behaviors of samples prepared from chemically identical Zr-, Ti-, Fe-, or Mg-based metallic glass ingots were strongly dependent on the sample size and machine stiffness, and a super-high compressive plasticity was achieved in the Zr-based metallic glasses with sample size of 1.0 mm in width. It is also found that the sample size can significantly influence the density of elastic energy dissipated in the shear band: with sample size decreasing and machine stiffness increasing, the density of the elastic energy dissipated in the shear band of metallic glasses is prominently decreased, thus the shear deformation turns to be more stable, resulting in the improvement of plasticity in ductile metallic glasses and the transition from fragmentation fracture to shear fracture in brittle metallic glasses. This finding is important for the potential applications of the present metallic glasses and for designing new metallic glasses with better mechanical properties.     

金属热黏塑性本构关系的研究进展

金属材料的塑性流动行为依赖于温度和应变率,温度和应变率敏感性是金属材料塑性流动的最重要的本质特性之一,建立合适的热黏塑性本构关系来准确描述金属塑性流动行为的温度和应变率依赖性,是金属材料能被广泛应用的必要前提。为此,对金属热黏塑性本构关系的最新研究进展进行了综述,介绍了常见的几种金属热黏塑性本构关系并进行了详细讨论,给出了各本构关系的优势与不足,最后系统介绍了包含金属塑性流动行为中出现的第三型应变时效、或K-W锁位错结构引起的流动应力随温度变化出现的反常应力峰以及拉压不对称等行为的金属热黏塑性本构关系的研究进展。