Creep damage modeling of a polycrystalline material

A polycrystalline material is investigated under creep conditions within the framework of continuum micromechanics. Geometrical 3D model of a polycrystalline microstructure is represented as a unit cell with grains of random crystallographical orientation and shape. Thickness of the plains, separating neighboring grains in the unit cell, can have non-zero value. Obtained geometry assigns a special zone in the vicinity of grain boundaries, possessing unordered crystalline structure. A mechanical behavior of this zone should allow sliding of the adjacent grains. Within the grain interior crystalline structure is ordered, what prescribes cubic symmetry of a material. The anisotropic material model with the orthotropic symmetry is implemented in ABAQUS and used to assign elastic and creep behavior of both the grain interior and grain boundary material. Appropriate parameters set allows transition from the orthotropy to the cubic symmetry for the grain interior. Material parameters for the grain interior are identified from creep tests for single crystal copper. Model parameters for the grain boundary are set from the physical considerations and numerical model validation according to the experimental data of the grain boundary sliding in a polycrystalline copper 2]. As the result of analysis representative number of grains and grain boundary thickness in the unit cell are recommended. (© 2012 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)