Large strain deformation of polycrystalline metals at low homologous temperatures

Large strain compression data (true strains to about ?3.0) are presented for polycrystalline α U and α Fe at room temperature. The results, together with other published data at low homologous temperatures (≈0.2 T_m), where T_m is the absolute melting temperature, suggest that a steady-state flow stress σ_s is approached after extensive strain-hardening, α U exhibits a very high strain-hardening rate, with σ_s ≈ 2900 MPa (420 ksi) indicating that cold-working is a very potent method of strengthening this metal. All the data evaluated can be fit by the stress-strain relation σ = σ_s? exp (?(Nε)^p)(σ_s? σ_y), where σ_y is the yield stess, p is a constant equal to a for the metals analyzed, N is a constant associated with the strain-hardening characteristics of a material, σ is true stress, and ε is true strain.