SIMULATION OF THE IN-PILE BEHAVIORS EVOLUTION IN NUCLEAR FUEL RODS WITH THE IRRADIATION DAMAGE EFFECTS

Based on the commercial computational software, a three-dimensional finite ele- ment model to simulate the thermo-mechanical behaviors in a nuclear fuel rod is established; By taking into consideration irradiation-swelling of the pellet and the irradiation damage effects in the cladding together with the coupling effects between the temperature field and the mechanical field, the user subroutines to define the special material performance and boundary conditions have been developed independently and validated. Three-dimensional numerical simulation of the thermo-mechanical coupling behaviors in a nuclear fuel rod is carried out, and the evolution rules of the important thermal and mechanical variables are obtained and analyzed. The research re- sults indicate that： （i） the fuel pellets will be in contact with the cladding at high burnup, which will induce a strong mechanical interaction between them; （2） the irradiation creep effect plays an important role in the mechanical behavior evolution in the nuclear fuel rod.     

Effects of lattice misorientations on strain heterogeneities in FCC polycrystals

It is well documented that the highly heterogeneous deformation behaviour and lattice rotation typically observed within grains in a polycrystal are attributed to microstructural features such as grain structure, topology, size, etc. In this work, the effects of low- and high-angle grain boundaries on the mechanical behaviour of FCC polycrystals are investigated using a micro-mechanical model based on crystal plasticity theory. The constitutive framework relies on dislocation mechanics concepts to describe the plastic deformation behaviour of FCC metallic crystals and is validated by comparing the measured and predicted local and macroscopic deformation behaviour in a thin Al-0.5% Mg polycrystal tensile specimen containing a relatively small number of surface grains. Comparisons at the microscopic (e.g. local slip distribution) and macroscopic (e.g. average stress-strain response) levels elucidate the role of low-angle grain boundaries, which are found to have a profound effect on both the local and average deformation behaviour of FCC polycrystals with a small number of grains. However, this effect diminishes when the number of grains increases and becomes negligible in bulk polycrystals. In light of the widely accepted view that high-angle grain boundaries strongly influence the mechanical behaviour of very fine-grained metals, this work has shown that low-angle grain boundaries can also play an equally important role in the deformation behaviour of polycrystals with a relatively small number of grains.     

Research note on plastic behavior of polycrystals under shear

A theoretical model for predicting the plastic behavior of a polycrystal under shear loading is derived. All the material properties appearing in the macroconstitutive equation are explicitly given in terms of the single crystal properties and crystalline structure. Numerical results for FCC polycrystals are calculated by a Monte Carlo method.     

金属材料力学性能的辐照硬化效应

开展金属材料力学性能的辐照硬化研究对抗辐照材料的设计及工程应用具有重要意义. 材料辐照损伤效应主要包括材料原子移位产生的辐照缺陷以及由核反应产生的氢、氦等气体杂质对材料性能的影响. 金属材料的辐照效应主要包括辐照硬化、辐照脆化和辐照蠕变等. 该文主要综述在低温(T < 0.3 T_m, T_m 是材料的熔点温度) 和低辐照剂量下, 由原子移位损伤产生的辐照缺陷所导致的辐照硬化行为, 即受辐照缺陷的影响, 材料的强度会升高. 材料的晶粒尺寸、晶界以及温度等因素对多晶材料的辐照硬化具有重要影响. 金属材料力学性能的辐照硬化研究是个多尺度问题, 其宏观力学性能既取决于微观尺度上辐照缺陷导致晶粒内部结构的变化, 也取决于细观尺度上晶粒间的相互作用. 该文从实验结果、数值模拟和理论模型三方面综述金属材料力学性能的辐照硬化研究进展. 在此基础上, 展望了该领域中存在的主要科学问题.      

预应变对中子辐照高纯铝拉伸性能的影响

金属材料的中子辐照硬化和脆化一直都是核能安全领域十分关注的重要问题之一. 为了进一步认识预应变对中子辐照金属材料塑性形变和最终断裂特性的影响规律, 及其微观机理, 本文研究了10%拉伸预应变高纯铝的拉伸应力-应变曲线、失稳应力和失稳应变等随辐照剂量的变化规律. 结果表明, 辐照剂量越高, 预应变高纯铝内部孔洞的尺寸和数密度越高, 导致屈服强度和极限拉伸强度越高, 均匀延伸率和失稳应变越小, 表现出典型的辐照硬化和脆化效应, 但失稳应力与辐照剂量几乎无关. 相同辐照剂量条件下, 预应变引入的高密度位错能够显著降低辐照孔洞的尺寸和数密度, 加之辐照退火效应的综合影响, 导致预应变能够降低高纯铝屈服强度的增长率和失稳应变的下降率, 从而表现出一定的抑制辐照硬化和脆化的能力, 预应变还能够提高高纯铝的失稳应力, 但整体而言预应变并不能提高高纯铝的延性. 最后, 基于J-C本构模型的中子辐照退火态金属材料的脆化模型能够直接应用于预应变金属材料, 且模型预测结果与实验结果吻合较好.      

FCC金属塑性屈服的尺度效应和应变率响应

对纳米尺度单晶铜的剪切变形进行了分子动力学（MD）模拟．模拟结果表明,单晶铜的剪切屈服应力随模型几何尺度的增大而降低,而随着应变率的增大而升高．基于位错形核理论,建立了一个修正的指数法则来描述面心立方（FCC）金属的尺度效应,该法则与较大尺度范围内（从纳米到毫米以上）的数值模拟结果以及实验数据都符合得比较好．另外,MD模拟中发现单晶铜存在一个临界应变率,当施加的应变率小于该值,剪切屈服应力几乎不随应变率变化而变化;当大于该值,剪切屈服应力会随着应变率的增加迅速升高．最后根据模拟的结果建立了单晶铜和单晶镍塑性屈服强度的应变率响应模型．     

Coupled effects of grain size distributions and crystallographic textures on the plastic behaviour of IF steels

Micro-macro scale transition theories were developed to model the inelastic behaviour of polycrystals starting from the local behaviour of the grains. The anisotropy of the plastic behaviour of polycrystalline metals was essentially explained by taking into account the crystallographic textures. Issues like plastic heterogeneities due to grain size dispersion, involving the Hall-Petch mechanism at the grain scale, were often not taken into account, and, only the role of a mean grain size was investigated in the literature. Here, both sources of plastic heterogeneities are studied using: (i) experimental data from EBSD measurements and tensile tests, and, (ii) a self-consistent model devoted to elastic-viscoplastic heterogeneous materials. The results of the model are applied to two different industrial IF steels with similar global orientation distributions functions but different mean grain sizes and grain size distributions. The coupled role of grain size distributions and crystallographic textures on the overall tensile behaviour, local stresses and strains, stored energy and overall plastic anisotropy (Lankford coefficients) is deeply analyzed by considering different other possible correlations between crystallographic orientations and grain sizes from the measured data.     

Transition theories of elastic-plastic deformation of metallic polycrystals

Summary A general approach to the problem of determination of elastoplastic behavior of metallic polycrystals at finite deformation is presented. The relation between moving dislocation density and global slip rate for grains is developed. Transition to grain response is obtained by introducing the hardening matrix. Field equations for heterogeneous elastoplastic metals are transformed into an integral equation, using Green functions technique. This allows to find the spin of the lattice related to texture formation.Scale transition is achieved by a self-consistent approximation of the integral equation. New results concerning BCC metals (sheet steel) are presented. They apply to tensile test, Lankford coefficient, initial and subsequent yield surfaces, and evolution of the internal state of the polycrystal: second-order residual stress, stored energy and texture evolution.     

Study of limit strains for FCC and BCC sheet metal using polycrystal plasticity

In this research, we analyze forming-limit strains of FCC and BCC materials using a viscoplastic self-consistent polycrystal model (VPSC) in conjunction with the Marciniak–Kuczynski (MK) approach. In particular, our work is focused on the theoretical analysis and comparison between FCC and BCC crystal structures made by Inal et al. [Inal, K., Neale, K.W., Aboutajeddine, A., 2005. Forming limit comparison for FCC and BCC sheets, International Journal of Plasticity, 21, 1255–1266]. These authors performed their simulations based on a generalized Taylor-type polycrystal model (MK-FC), finding a remarkably low forming-limit curve for the FCC material and an extremely high forming-limit curve for the BCC material, in the biaxial stretching range. We verified that our predictions are similar to Inal’s results for both FCC and BCC materials when the MK-FC model is used. However, MK-VPSC calculations do not give such extreme values, and we believe that this theory predicts much more reliable results for both FCC and BCC crystallographic assumptions. We also found that localized necking depends on texture evolution in the vicinity of equi-biaxial stretching, through the sharpness of the predicted yield surface. Finally, it is shown that the MK-VPSC’s predictions are in good agreement with experimental data for AA5182-O and a DQ-type steel-sheet metal.     

Estimation of overall properties of random polycrystals with the use of invariant decompositions of Hooke’s tensor

In the paper the theoretical analysis of bounds and self-consistent estimates of overall properties of linear random polycrystals composed of arbitrarily anisotropic grains is presented. In the study two invariant decompositions of Hooke’s tensors are used. The applied method enables derivation of novel expressions for estimates of the bulk and shear moduli, which depend on invariants of local stiffness tensor. With use of these expressions the materials are considered for which at the local level constraints are imposed on deformation or some stresses are unsustained.     

Forming limit comparisons for FCC and BCC sheets

In this paper, numerical simulations of forming limit diagrams (FLDs) are performed based on a rate-sensitive polycrystal plasticity model together with the Marciniak–Kuczynski (M–K) approach. Sheet necking is initiated from an initial imperfection in terms of a narrow band. The deformations inside and outside the band are assumed to be homogeneous, and conditions of compatibility and equilibrium are enforced across the band interfaces. Thus, the polycrystal model need only be applied to two polycrystal aggregates, one inside and one outside the band. Both FCC and BCC crystals are considered with 12 distinct slip systems for an FCC crystal and 24 distinct slip systems for a BCC crystal. The response of an aggregate comprised of many grains is based on an elastic–viscoplastic Taylor-type polycrystal model. With this formulation, the effects of initial imperfection intensity and orientation, crystal elasticity, strain-rate sensitivity, single slip hardening, and latent hardening on the FLD can be assessed. Identical initial textures are considered for both FCC and BCC polycrystals and the predicted FLDs are compared with each other.     

A micromechanical theory of grain-size dependence in metal plasticity

The effect of grain-size on the elastoplastic behavior of metals is investigated from the micromechanics standpoint. First, based on the observations that dislocation pile-ups, formation of cell structures, and other inelastic activities influenced by the presence of grain boundary actually take place transcrystallinely, a grain-size dependent constitutive equation is proposed for the slip deformation of slip systems. By means of a modified Hill's self-consistent relation the local stress of a grain is calculated, and used in conjunction with this constitutive equation to evaluate the plastic strain of each constituent grain. The grain-size effect on the plastic flow of polycrystals then can be determined by an averaging process. To check the validity of the proposed theory it was finally applied to predict the stress-strain curves and flow stresses of a copper at various grain-sizes. The obtained results were found to be in good agreement with experimental data.     

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.     

Bounds on the hydrostatic plastic strength of voided polycrystals and implications for linear-comparison homogenization techniques

A linear-comparison homogenization technique and its relaxed version are used to compute bounds of the Hashin–Shtrikman and the self-consistent types for the hydrostatic strength of ideally plastic voided polycrystals. Closed-form analytical results are derived for isotropic aggregates of various cubic symmetries (fcc, bcc, ionic). The impact of the variational relaxation on the bounds is found to be significantly larger than that previously observed in fully dense polycrystals. So much so that, quite surprisingly, relaxed self-consistent bounds are found to be weaker than non-relaxed Hashin–Shtrikman bounds in some of the material systems considered.     

The linear work hardening stage and de Broglie equation for autowaves of localized plasticity

The generality of localization of plastic deformation, which is observed at the stage of linear work hardening for HCP, BCC and FCC mono- and polycrystals of pure metals and alloys, is considered. It was found previously that the motion rate of localized flow autowave is related to the reciprocal value of the work hardening coefficient by a linear law, which is universal in character. This is further substantiated by the results of the given study. The waves of plastic flow localization are found to have dispersion law. It has been established that in order to address the autowave of localized deformation, a quasi-particle may be introduced. The quasi-particle’s characteristics have been defined.     

Dynamics of texture evolution in face-centered cubic polycrystals

Texturing of polycrystals under slip-dominated plastic deformation is driven by reorientation velocity fields that arise from the lattice spin that accompanies restricted slip. Here, the dynamics of reorientation velocity fields are analyzed to isolate mechanisms by which textures develop and dissipate. Two tools are introduced to enable this analysis: linear stability analysis to assess behavior of equilibrium orientations, and a parametrization of lattice spins to enable analysis of fields without equilibria. This toolkit is applied to face-centered cubic (FCC) polycrystals and sheds new insight into texture development under three representative deformation modes: plane strain compression, pure shear and simple shear.     

中子辐照金属材料的脆化模型研究

金属材料的辐照脆化问题一直以来都是核能安全领域亟待解决的关键问题之一.为了更准确地预测金属材料的辐照脆化行为,基于Johnson-Cook本构模型,将未辐照金属材料的断裂真应力取作辐照材料的断裂真应力,建立了通过辐照退火态金属材料屈服强度就能够预测其整个真应力$\!$-$\!$-$\!$应变曲线,以及断裂真应变的辐照脆化模型.实验研究了不同中子剂量辐照退火态高纯铝的准静态拉伸真应力$\!$-$\!$-$\!$应变曲线、断裂真应力和断裂真应变随辐照剂量的变化规律.结果表明,辐照剂量越高,高纯铝的屈服强度越高,断裂真应变越低,但断裂真应力几乎不变.通过TEM显微分析获得了高纯铝内部辐照缺陷的尺寸和数密度随辐照剂量的变化规律,结果表明,辐照剂量越高,孔洞的尺寸和数密度越高,但位错环尺寸和数密度始终很小,难以准确统计.由辐照高纯铝实验数据拟合得到了辐照脆化模型所需参数,并检验了该模型的预测效果.结果表明,无论是通过实验还是显微分析得到辐照高纯铝的屈服强度,模型的预测结果均能够与实验结果较好地吻合,且模型对退火态高纯铝临界中子剂量的预测值也与文献结果一致.      

激光辐照下多层圆柱体中三维瞬态温度场的解析解

考虑外表面的气流影响和层间温度与传热的协调关系,建立了激光辐照下,层合圆柱体中的三维瞬态热传导解析模型。利用特征值法和Bessel函数,导出了各层柱体中三维瞬态温度场的封闭解析解。以一维轴对称问题为例计算了柱体中的瞬态温度场,给出了柱体内部温度随时间的变化和柱体表面换热系数对温度场的影响规律。本文的理论解可进一步用于分析层合圆柱体中的三维瞬态热-力效应,并可作为相应问题的数值模拟中数值模型的修正依据。