Direct modeling of non-uniform strain field of heterogeneous materials

Abstract

Engineering materials have a heterogeneous microstructure that induces non-uniform deformations (NUDs) even under uniform stress. Therefore, the development of NUDs in heterogeneous materials under a macroscopically non-uniform stress is characterized by the interactions between micro- and macroscopic NUDs. In this study, we attempt to directly describe microscopic NUDs by introducing a constitutive equation for the strain field. Using polycrystalline metal, which is a well-known heterogeneous material, we performed the uniaxial tensile tests on specimens with curved gauge sections. During modeling, the constitutive equation without nonlocal effect was first fitted based on the distribution of the local equivalent stress and strain. The strain calculated using the fitted equation was regarded as the strain for the homogeneous material, whereas the strain deviating from the fitted equation was assumed to be induced by the microscopic heterogeneity of the material. The respective strains were represented using different constitutive models, and the parameters employed in the models were fitted separately using the experimentally measured strain field. The plastic compliance gradient was employed as a material parameter quantifying the microscopic NUDs. Subsequently, a multiaxial elastoplastic nonlocal constitutive equation was formulated based on the nonlocally extended J2 flow theory. Finite element method simulations introducing the proposed nonlocal effect indicated that a scale-dependent NUD characterized by the interactions between micro- and macro-NUDs could be represented using the proposed model. Furthermore, the proposed model could predict the experimentally observed strain field characterized by a polycrystalline microstructure, such as the dispersion of the strain concentration at the curved gauge section and the appearance of NUDs even under uniform stress.