Formation of persistent slip band-structures during cyclic loading in finite-strain crystal plasticity

Cyclic loading of single- and polycrystals gives rise to complex structures and patterns on the material's microscale, which highly affect the macroscopic stress-strain response. The formation of microstructures in finite-strain crystal plasticity has been reasoned to stem from the non-quasiconvexity of the underlying energetic potentials. As a consequence of such a lack of convexity, the material reduces its energy by breaking up into fine-scale fluctuations of minimizing sequences, which correspond to the experimentally observed microstructures. Based on an incremental setting and relaxed potentials, we describe the formation and the time-continuous evolution of laminate structures during cyclic loading. (© 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)