Modeling of temperature-dependent ultimate tensile strength for metallic materials

Abstract

Quantitative evaluation of temperature effect on the mechanical properties of materials has always been the core issue concern. In this study, based on the Force-Heat Equivalence Energy Density Principle, a method to model the temperature-dependent ultimate tensile strength (UTS) for metallic materials was proposed. The critical plastic instability energy density related to the onset of plastic instability was put forward which is composed of the elastic-plastic strain energy and the corresponding heat energy. Subsequently, two temperature-dependent UTS models considering the effect of strain hardening behavior were theoretically derived. The models do not contain meaningless adjustable fitting parameters and each parameter has clear physical meanings. The intrinsic quantitative relationships between temperature, UTS, strain hardening exponent, strength coefficient, and specific heat capacity are revealed. Model predictions achieved good agreement with 31 groups of accessible metallic materials, including structural steels, high-strength steels, cold-formed steels, zirconium alloys, and aluminum alloys, which are commonly used in engineering. Especially, the models achieved a better agreement with the results of uniaxial tensile tests compared with the current indentation method. Furthermore, the quantitative influence of the strain hardening exponent and the strength coefficient on UTS at different temperatures was analyzed. This work will contribute to the evaluation of the properties of materials at elevated temperatures and the fire design of structures.