Perturbation approach to elastic constitutive relations of polycrystals

Abstract

Herein we obtain a formula for the effective elastic stiffness tensor C eff of an orthorhombic aggregate of cubic crystallites by the perturbation method. The effective elastic stiffness tensor of the polycrystal gives the relationship between volume average stress and volume average strain. Under Voigt's model, Reuss’ model and Man's theory, the elastic constitutive relation accounts for the effect of the orientation distribution function (ODF) up to terms linear in the texture coefficients. However, the formula derived in this paper delineates the effect of crystallographic texture on elastic response and shows quadratic texture dependence. The formula is very simple. We also consider the influence of grain shape to elastic constitutive relations of polycrystals. Some examples are given to compare computational results of the formula with those given by Voigt's model, Reuss's model, the finite element method, and the self-consistent method. In Section 3, we also present an expression of the perturbation displacement field, in which Green's function for an orthorhombic aggregate of cubic crystallites is included.