A theoretical investigation of the influence of dislocation sheets on evolution of yield surfaces in single-phase B.C.C. polycrystals

Accurate and reliable predictions of yield surfaces and their evolution with deformation require a better physical representation of the important sources of anisotropy in the material. Until recently, the most physical approach employed in the current literature has been the use of polycrystalline deformation models, where it is assumed that crystallographic texture is the main contributor to the overall anisotropy. However, recent studies have revealed that the grain-scale mesostructural features (e.g. cell-block boundaries) may have a large impact on the anisotropic stress-strain behaviour, as evidenced during strain-path change tests (e.g. cross effect, Bauschinger effect).In previous papers, the authors formulated an extension of the Taylor-type crystal plasticity model by incorporating some details of the grain-scale mesostructural features. The main purpose of this paper is to study the evolution of yield surfaces in single-phase b.c.c. polycrystals during deformation and strain-path changes using this extended crystal plasticity model. It is demonstrated that the contribution of the grain-scale substructure in these metals on yield loci is comparable in magnitude to the effects caused by the differences in texture. Furthermore, it is shown that the shape of yield loci cannot be predicted accurately by the traditional polycrystalline deformation model with equal slip hardening. The trends predicted by the extended crystal plasticity model are in much better agreement with the experimental evidence reported in the literature than those represented in classical treatments by isotropic and kinematic hardening.