Crystal Plasticity Finite Element Simulations of Polycrystalline Aluminium Alloy under Cyclic Loading

Abstract

A three-dimensional crystal plasticity (CP) finite element model is developed to reproduce the grain level stress concentration and deformation of polycrystalline aluminium alloy 7075 (AA7075) during fatigue experiments. The grains contained in the model possess the same size and crystallographic orientations obtained from electron back-scatter diffraction experiments. A modified CP constitutive model, which considers the backstress evolution, is employed to describe the mechanical behaviour of AA7075 under cyclic loading. A round-notched specimen from a fatigue test is simulated using the proposed CP model. Convergence studies in terms of mesh density and plastic deformation zone size are carried out to determine the appropriate conditions for the simulation. The simulation results are compared with those obtained using the elasto-plastic model and the CP model without grain morphology. The comparison indicates that with the embedded grain morphology, the proposed model can capture very well the local response induced by the microstructure features, which is vital to the accurate fatigue life prediction of aluminium alloys.