Initial Crystallographic Texture Research Articles

Investigation of the effect of morphological and crystallographic textures on the ductility limits of thin metal sheets using a CPFEM-based approach

The current contribution investigates the effect of some relevant microstructural parameters (specifically, morphological and crystallographic textures) on the ductility limits of polycrystalline aggregates using the Crystal Plasticity Finite Element Method (CPFEM). The polycrystalline aggregates are assumed to be representative of thin metal sheets and their macroscopic behavior is determined from that of their constituent single crystals on the basis of the periodic homogenization technique. The single crystal behavior is described by a finite strain elastoplastic framework in which the plastic flow rule obeys the classical Schmid law and plastic deformation is solely attributed to the slip on the crystallographic slip systems. The CPFEM is implemented within and in connection with ABAQUS/Standard finite element code. The ductility limits are predicted by the Rice bifurcation theory where strain localization is detected when the macroscopic acoustic tensor becomes singular. Three grain morphologies (namely, cube, random, and elongated morphology) and three initial crystallographic textures (namely, cube, random, and copper orientation) are considered to investigate the effect of morphological and crystallographic textures on the onset of plastic strain localization. The numerical results indicate that the effect of initial crystallographic texture is much more pronounced than that of grain morphology on the predicted ductility limits. In addition, the impact of grain size and sheet thickness are thoroughly analyzed. The research reveals that the trends of the predicted ductility limits are strongly dependent on the size effects.

Coupled effects of crystallographic orientation and void shape on ductile failure initiation using a CPFE framework

Ductile failure reveals to be an anisotropic phenomenon, for which the proper mechanism has not been clearly addressed yet in the literature. In this paper, the effects of some key anisotropy factors on ductile failure initiation, detected by void coalescence and plastic strain localization, are investigated using unit-cell computations based on crystal plasticity finite element method. The studied anisotropic effects are induced by the combination of initial crystallographic orientations and void shapes. Therefore, single crystals with three different initial orientations and polycrystalline aggregates with three different initial crystallographic textures are respectively considered. A single void with either spherical, prolate or oblate shape is assumed to be preexisting at the center of each unit cell. By contrast to previous analyses in the literature, plastic strain localization is predicted in the present study on the basis of bifurcation theory. To cover a wide range of stress states, the simulations are performed under two macroscopic loading configurations: proportional triaxial stressing, characterized by constant stress triaxiality and Lode parameter, and proportional in-plane straining, specified by constant strain-path ratio. The obtained results show that the combined anisotropic effects play an important role in the occurrence of void coalescence and plastic strain localization, as well as in the competition between them.

Influence of grain boundary energy anisotropy on the evolution of grain boundary network structure during 3D anisotropic grain growth

In this paper, we present the results of grain growth simulations in three-dimensions using an existing level set method. Most of the previous grain growth studies have been either isotropic or, if they are not isotropic, consider simplified models of anisotropy. We perform these simulations using three different grain boundary (GB) energy functions (a realistic 5D GB energy function, a Read–Shockley energy model that depends only on disorientation angle, and an isotropic GB energy model). We compare the results in terms of several statistical microstructural descriptors (crystallographic texture, GB character distribution, triple junction distribution (TJD), etc.). In addition to considering different energy models, we also compare the evolution of microstructures that have different initial crystallographic textures (fiber texture and random texture). We find that the morphological evolution of individual grains can be completely different depending on the GB energy function employed. However, we also find that certain spatially independent microstructural statistics (e.g. orientation distribution function, misorientation distribution function, and TJD) are similar at steady state for all of the tested GB energy functions.

Effect of nitriding on mechanical and microstructural properties of Direct Metal Laser Sintered 17-4PH stainless steel

In this work, the effect of the nitriding process on microstructure and mechanical properties of additively manufactured (AM) 17-4PH stainless steel is investigated. The nitriding was performed at 530 °C, 560 °C, and 580 °C for 2 h. The nitriding process improves the hardness and surface roughness of the AM 17-4PH steel. Detailed microstructural characterizations of both as-built and nitride samples are performed using an optical microscope, scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray diffraction technique. It reveals that the nitride layer thickness increases with nitriding temperature. A distinct transition layer between the substrate and nitride layer is observed in the 560 °C and 580 °C nitride samples. The nitriding process develops almost equiaxed grain microstructure with new secondary phase precipitates, whereas in the as-built material, the grains are primarily columnar along the AM process build direction. Specifically, the nitriding process introduces γ-Fe4N, ε-Fe3N, CrN, and Ni3N precipitates. The increase in Ni- and Cu-rich precipitates with the nitriding temperature explains the observed improvement in the hardness and surface roughness. Furthermore, the nitriding process does not alter the substrate's initial weak crystallographic texture.

Predicting plastic anisotropy using crystal plasticity and Bayesian neural network surrogate models

This work presents an efficient data-driven protocol to accurately predict plastic anisotropy from initial crystallographic texture. In this work, we integrated feed forward neural networks with Variational Bayesian Inference techniques to establish an accurate low-computational cost surrogate model capable of predicting the anisotropic constants based on the texture of the polycrystalline material with quantifiable uncertainty. The developed model was trained on the results of 54,480 crystal plasticity simulations. The performed simulations parametrized Hill’s anisotropic yield model for single crystals and polycrystalline textures, which were robustly represented using generalized spherical harmonics (GSH). Subsequently, the GSH-based representation of the different textures was linked to its corresponding Hill’s anisotropic coefficients using a variational Bayesian neural network. The efficacy and accuracy of the developed surrogate model were critically validated with the results of 20,000 new textures. The predictions from the Bayesian neural network model showed excellent agreement with results obtained from experiments and high-fidelity crystal plasticity finite element simulations.

Influence of the structural state and crystallographic texture of Zr-2.5% Nb alloy samples on the anisotropy of their thermal expansion

• The thermal linear expansion coefficient of Zr-2.5%Nb channel tubes has been studied. • Crystallographic texture before and after phase transformation has been investigated. • The influence of initial crystallographic texture and structural-phase state on dimension changes after dilatometric measurements has been established. • The physical processes occurring in Zr-alloys during heating and cooling at 20-1200° C temperature interval has been explained. Zirconium remains the main structural material for thermal reactors due to the small capture cross section of thermal neutrons. In the period of stricter safety requirements for reactors with a simultaneous increase in operating parameters, predicting the behavior of the material in emergency situations has gained greater urgency. In this work, we measured the temperature dependence of the thermal expansion of samples cut from thick-walled tubes made of Zr-2.5% Nb alloy that were deformed and annealed in different modes. The analysis of the physical processes responsible for the shaping of the material is carried out. It was found that the anisotropic change in the linear dimensions of cubic samples both during heating and cooling is due to a change in the zirconium content in the β-phase, phase transformations α + β-Zr → α + β-Nb → β → α + β-Zr, as well as the preferred orientation of the grains of the α-phase, characterized by high anisotropy of linear expansion. It is shown that the expansion of the investigated samples upon heating in the α -phase is determined exclusively by the integral texture parameters of Kearns, and the coefficients of thermal linear expansion (TLEC) in different directions vary over a wide range from 3⋅10 -6 to 12⋅10 -6 K −1 . During cooling at the stage of the reverse phase transformation of the β-phase into α, an increase in the size of the cubic samples in the tangential direction up to 2.3 % and a decrease in the radial direction to 1.3 % are noted, which is associated with the orientation of the α-phase grains formed during cooling in the β -matrix and anisotropy of the TLEC of the α -grains. It is shown that the orientation of the α-phase grains in the reverse β → α transformation is determined not only by the orientation of the basal axes in the initial material, but also by the spatial distribution of the prismatic axes relative to the external directions in the tube. Significant size fluctuations in different directions of the samples obtained using the technology of manufacturing channel tubes for CANDU reactors should lead to the development of significant macrostresses both during heating and cooling of the tube. The structural state of the samples deformed or annealed at 400–530 °C does not significantly affect the temperature dependence of the TLEC, but is manifested only in some of its features. In this case, completely recrystallized samples, i.e., with a recrystallization texture, in which the < 11 2 - 0 > directions are oriented along the tube axis, are characterized by a significantly lower variation in dimensions in different directions in the temperature range 20–1200 °C.

Mechanistic Insight into the Relationship between Electrolyte Additives, Solid Electrolyte Interphase Formation, and Lithium Morphology in Lithium Metal Batteries

Directing the morphology of lithium metal deposits during electrodeposition is crucial to the development of safe, high energy density batteries with robust cycle life. Towards this end, mechanistic insight is imperative to understand the relationship between electrolytes, additives, cycling conditions, and the resulting lithium morphologies. In this work we used a standard carbonate-based electrolyte while systematically adding water (0-250 ppm, corresponding to ~0-500 ppm HF) in Li||Cu cells to study the links between electrolyte composition, initial solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) formation, and morphology of electroplated lithium metal. Under conditions in which the electrolyte contains several hundred ppm added HF and applied constant currents on the order of 0.5 mA/cm2, this system yields electrodeposited lithium metal with a highly monodispersed columnar morphology, whereas HF-free electrolytes result in lithium metal with a mossy morphology. We used electrochemical characterization to investigate the HF reduction process, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to characterize SEI chemistry, wide angle X-ray scattering to probe the nanostructure of the initial SEI and crystallographic texture of electrodeposited lithium metal, scanning electron microscopy to observe the resulting lithium metal morphology, and operando small angle X-ray scattering to understand cyclability of columnar lithium. Our systematic experimental approach enables insights to be drawn concerning the underlying mechanisms of columnar lithium formation. This morphology arises from an SEI layer comprising crystalline LiF deposits, formed through selective reduction of HF, embedded in an amorphous matrix of solvent reduction products. This interphase structure contains fast lithium ion diffusion pathways which lead to a high nucleation density and uniform growth of lithium metal deposits. The mechanism proposed herein will help to inform future electrolyte additive design and rational cycling protocols for lithium metal batteries. Figure 1

A numerical study of the influence of crystal plasticity modeling parameters on the plastic anisotropy of rolled aluminum sheet

The production of stamped parts from rolled aluminum sheets requires different tempers and different thermal routes. While the slip and hardening behavior of the alloy strongly depends on the temper and the process temperature, the crystallographic texture remains largely static. Although the plastic anisotropy of rolled sheet is largely a function of the crystallographic texture, a dependency of plastic anisotropy on the temper has been reported for 6xxx series alloys, indicating that slip and hardening behavior have some influence. A systematic investigation of the effect of the slip and hardening behavior on the plastic anisotropy, however, does not exist. In this study, a crystal plasticity fast Fourier transform framework is utilized to predict the r-values, a common measure for plastic anisotropy, of two widely used commercial aluminum alloys possessing different crystallographic textures, AA6016 and AA5182. To investigate the sensitivity of the r-values to changes in the modeling parameters, a suite of simulations is performed in which the modeling parameters are systematically changed, and the resulting changes to the predicted r-values are calculated. Furthermore, numerical parameters, such as the level of discretization and the number of simulated grains are studied. Results indicate that the predicted r-value is less dependent on changes to crystal plasticity modeling parameters than to the initial crystallographic texture. Resulting trends are discussed.

Mechanical behavior and texture evolution of aluminum alloys subjected to strain path changes: Experiments and modeling

The mechanical responses and crystallographic texture evolution of four representative aluminum alloy sheets (2xxx, 5xxx, 6xxx and 7xxx series), commonly used in the transportation industry, are studied under reverse shear loading in this work. The monotonic and forward-reverse simple shear tests are carried out to obtain the stress-strain response. The initial and after-deformation crystallographic texture are experimentally measured. The deformations are simulated using a dislocation theory-related hardening model incorporated in the Visco-Plastic Self-Consistent (VPSC) framework. The simulation results are in good agreement with the experiments in both the mechanical response and texture evolution. Furthermore, the changes of texture components during shear and reverse shear deformation are contrastively discussed as well as the influence of initial texture on the evolution. The cube component, as the primary initial orientation, transforms into other orientations as the applied shear deformation progresses. The rate of change is dependent on the initial texture intensity. Although the loading direction reverses once, the intensity variation of the orientation components showed two inflection points.

Superior energy absorption in porous magnesium: Contribution of texture development triggered by intra-granular misorientations

The effect of the initial crystallographic texture and its development on the energy absorption capability of porous magnesium (Mg) with parallel cylindrical pores and a fiber texture was studied. The fiber texture, whose symmetrical axis is oriented along the longitudinal axis of pores, was modeled using crystal plasticity finite element method (FEM). Subsequently, the effect of the preferred orientation angle of the basal planes in Mg grains, denoted as the angle α, on the compressive deformation along the longitudinal axis of pores was analyzed. The analyses revealed that the orientation angle α of the basal planes strongly affects the development of the intra-granular crystallographic misorientations, which dominates the compressive deformation and energy absorption capability. When the angle α is low, a strong deformation constraint, originating from inter-granular interaction, occurs at the grain boundaries. Owing to the constraint, large intra-granular crystallographic misorientations occur during deformation. Consequently, the axial symmetry of the fiber texture becomes asymmetric, which causes the appearance of a plateau stress region, where compressive deformation proceeds with a small increase in stress. As a result, superior energy absorption is achieved for a low angle α. The crystal plasticity analyses also indicate that an ideal plateau stress region, where deformation proceeds with almost no increase in stress, appears by controlling the initial fiber texture using a compressive preloading on a porous Mg sample prepared via the present directional solidification process. Owing to the superior plateau stress region, the porous Mg achieves high energy absorption efficiency and capability simultaneously.

On the synergy between physical and virtual sheet metal testing: calibration of anisotropic yield functions using a microstructure-based plasticity model

This paper scrutinizes in detail the synergy between physical and virtual testing of the mechanical response of sheet metal. In this context, physical testing refers to the usage of physical samples onto which mechanical tests are conducted, while virtual testing refers to multi-scale plasticity simulations onto a model representation of the metallic microstructure derived from microstructural measurement. An extensive experimental campaign was conducted to capture the plastic material response of mild steel sheet in the first quadrant of the biaxial stress space, i.e. for tensile stresses along the Rolling Direction (RD) and Transverse Direction (TD). The experimental data was acquired using state-of-the-art stress-controlled material tests enabling to probe the material up to large plastic strains in the first quadrant of stress space. Identical stress paths were simulated using the Virtual Experimentation Framework (VEF) software suite adopting the ALAMEL multi-scale plasticity model. The ALAMEL model was calibrated solely on the basis of the initial crystallographic texture of the material and a reference hardening curve obtained through a uniaxial tensile test in the rolling direction. The predictive accuracy of the ALAMEL model to reproduce the experimentally acquired material response has been thoroughly assessed. To avoid any bias in the assessment due to extrapolation of the material behavior, predictions were limited to the pre-necking regime of the material. The predictions of the VEF show good agreement with the physical test results. Subsequently, the experimental and virtual test data were used to calibrate Hill’s quadratic yield criterion and the Yld2000-2d yield function. The calibration accuracy of these yield criteria is thoroughly assessed by comparing theoretical predictions and experimental data. In addition, the calibrated yield functions are used to simulate a hydraulic bulge test and the results are compared with experimental observations. It is shown that the adopted virtual material testing procedure has reached a sufficient level of maturity to potentially serve as a viable alternative for physical material testing of steel sheet.

Fracture mechanisms of spinodal alloys

ABSTRACTFracture surface retains an of the entire deformation history undergone in a material. Hence, it is possible to derive the approximate deformation and fracture properties of a material from a systematic quantitative fractographic analysis when the microstructure is known. In this research, the deformation behaviour and fracture characteristics of a spinodal decomposed copper alloy at various ageing conditions have been investigated thoroughly. Systematic changes in microstructure are implemented in this alloy through the alteration of ageing time at an elevated temperature on different specimens. As a result, the wavelength and amplitude of modulated spinodal structures have been varied, while those of initial inclusion content, other second phase particles' volume/distribution, initial crystallographic texture and grain size were kept unaltered. Spinodal decomposition results from the coherency strains, hence the zone of mismatch of strain/stress between phases/interfaces acts as micro/nano void nucleation sites under tensile deformation. The two-dimensional tensile were correlated with the deformation and fracture properties of the alloy under constant strain rate at different ageing conditions at ambient environment. The results obtained bring fractographic information to the mechanical engineers and nuclear scientists investigating ductile fracture of spinodal decomposed alloys. This is a novel technique to characterise the material from an analysis of the fracture surface features.

Deformation behavior of Nickel-based superalloy Su-263: Experimental characterization and crystal plasticity finite element modeling

The deformation behavior of a Ni-based superalloy, Su-263, was investigated using a blend of compression experiments, microstructural characterization and crystal plasticity finite element modeling. Uniaxial compression tests were performed at different strain rates (800s−1 - 2500s−1) and temperatures (300–1073 K) using Split-Hopkinson pressure bar. The microstructure was examined using scanning electron microscopy and electron back-scatter diffraction technique was employed to provide necessary inputs required for crystal plasticity modeling. The simulations used a phenomenological crystal plasticity model based on thermally activated theory of plastic flow. The model was found capable of reproducing the stress-strain curves and texture evolution for all mechanical tests using a single set of hardening parameters. In addition, an attempt was made to determine an optimized set of hardening parameters at the level of crystal plasticity. This was achieved by simulating different initial crystallographic textures of the material, each of which led to a different set of hardening parameters. Using these, a single optimized set of parameters was extracted from the achieved band, which could adequately predict the mechanical response of the material for all the initial textures.

Strain localization analysis for planar polycrystals based on bifurcation theory

In the present paper, an efficient numerical tool is developed to investigate the ductility limit of polycrystalline aggregates under in-plane biaxial loading. These aggregates are assumed to be representative of very thin sheet metals (with typically few grains through the thickness). Therefore, the plane-stress assumption is naturally adopted to numerically predict the occurrence of strain localization. Furthermore, the initial crystallographic texture is assumed to be planar. Considering the latter assumptions, a two-dimensional single-crystal model is advantageously chosen to describe the mechanical behavior at the microscopic scale. The mechanical behavior of the planar polycrystalline aggregate is derived from that of single crystals by using the full-constraint Taylor scale-transition scheme. To predict the occurrence of localized necking, the developed multiscale model is coupled with bifurcation theory. As will be demonstrated through various numerical results, in the case of biaxial loading under plane-stress conditions, the planar single-crystal model provides the same predictions as those given by the more commonly used three-dimensional single-crystal model. Moreover, the use of the two-dimensional model instead of the three-dimensional one allows dividing the number of active slip systems by two and, hence, significantly reducing the CPU time required for the integration of the constitutive equations at the single-crystal scale. Furthermore, the planar polycrystal model seems to be more suitable to study the ductility of very thin sheet metals, as its use allows us to rigorously ensure the plane-stress state, which is not always the case when the fully three-dimensional polycrystalline model is employed. Consequently, the adoption of this planar formulation, instead of the three-dimensional one, allows us to simplify the computational aspects and, accordingly, to considerably reduce the CPU time required for the numerical predictions.

Accounting for lattice coherency in a two-phase elastic-plastic self-consistent model for nickel-based superalloys

A 2-site elastic-plastic self-consistent (EPSC) model is developed and implemented in order to account for crystallographic texture development and grain morphology evolution under strong correlations between neighbor grains of different phases, both in space and orientation. Predictions of the model adequately fit the published in situ neutron diffraction data for nickel-based superalloys at ambient and elevated temperatures, in which γ and γ' phases exhibit exact cube-cube orientation relationship. Comparison with 2-site model (small strain algorithm, non-rotation scheme) and 1-site model (finite strain algorithm, co-rotation scheme) has been made, and the result shows that the present 2-site model (finite strain algorithm, rotation scheme) leads to better predictions in lattice strain evolution where both rotation of crystal lattice and correlation between inclusions are accounted for, especially when the applied strain is larger than 0.02 for transverse direction and 0.05∼0.18 for axial direction for the materials studied in this work. Based on a systematic study on the effects of grain-grain interaction and total grain number on the homogenized results, we found that transverse lattice strains of γ (200) and/or γ' (100) are sensitive to the interplay between γ-γ' interaction and evolution of grain orientation distribution with deformation, while that of γ (220) and γ' (110) are sensitive to the initial crystallographic texture.

Formability predictions and measurement of 316L stainless steel using self-consistent crystal plasticity

A viscoplastic self-consistent (VPSC) crystal plasticity model was used to describe the mechanical behavior of a 316L stainless steel sample. Mechanical anisotropy of the 316L stainless steel was evidenced in the experimental results collected from the uniaxial tension tests along various directions. EBSD images were obtained from the as-received sample, and a representative population of discrete orientations was created to account for the initial crystallographic texture in the model. The hardening parameters were identified by using the flow stress-strain curve obtained from a bulge test. The model-predicted and experimental flow-stress curves and R-values were compared in order to estimate the adequacy of the VPSC model to describe the anisotropic behaviour of the 316L stainless steel sample. Furthermore, the crystal plasticity model, in conjunction with the Marciniak-Kuczyński approach, was used to predict forming limit diagram. The model was validated by comparing with the experimental flow stress curves from uniaxial tension and bulge tests. The predictive accuracy on forming limit diagram was also estimated by comparing with the experimental forming limit strains obtained through Nakajima tests.

Deformation and fracture mechanisms in WE43 magnesium-rare earth alloy fabricated by direct-chill casting and rolling

This paper examines deformation behavior of WE43 alloy in direct-chill as-cast (as-cast-WE43) and rolled heat-treated T6 (WE43-T6) conditions with an emphasis on fracture mechanisms. Unlike many Mg allows, as-cast-WE43 and WE43-T6 exhibit no tension/compression asymmetry in their yield stress. WE43-T6 material shows more anisotropy in yield stress than as-cast-WE43, which is attributed to their respected initial crystallographic textures. Both WE43-T6 and as-cast-WE43 exhibit some anisotropy in strain hardening due to texture evolution and deformation twinning. Both materials show a small elongation to fracture of approximately 6% in tension. In contrast, strain to fracture in compression is large. Crystallographic texture evolves substantially in compression, where crystals are slowly reorienting their crystallographic c-axis parallel to the loading direction with plastic strain. Both materials fracture by a typical shear fracture in compression. Fractographic analysis of fractured surfaces in compression for WE43-T6 reveals evidence of transgranular facets that are much larger than grain size with minor content of microvoid coalescence. Although elongation to fracture in tension is small with no necking, detailed analysis of fracture surfaces reveals evidence of ductile microvoid coalescence. However, the intergranular fracture character, especially in the central high stress triaxiality region of the samples, limits the ductility of the material.

Effect of Stress State on Fracture Features

Present article comprehensively explores the influence of specimen thickness on the quantitative estimates of different ductile fractographic features in two dimensions, correlating tensile properties of a reactor pressure vessel steel tested under ambient temperature where the initial crystallographic texture, inclusion content, and their distribution are kept unaltered. It has been investigated that the changes in tensile fracture morphology of these steels are directly attributable to the resulting stress–state history under tension for given specimen dimensions.

Measuring and modeling the anisotropic, high strain rate deformation of Al alloy, 7085, plate in T711 temper

Al alloy 7085 in the T711 temper has been proposed as a lightweight metallic armor material. The room temperature constitutive response is assessed by compression testing at quasi-static (0.001 s−1) and dynamic (1000 s−1) strain rates along the rolling (RD), transverse (TD), and normal (ND) directions. The flow strength, plastic strain anisotropy (r-values) and texture evolution is measured along each direction. While the flow stress exhibits only mild anisotropy, the compressive r-values revealed strong strain anisotropy, with values close to 0.4 for RD, 0.8 for TD, and 0.6–0.8 for ND. The fracture response was also found to be anisotropic, with ND showing a lower compressive ductility as compared to the RD and TD. The level of anisotropy is essentially independent of the strain rate. However, flow softening and localization are more evident at dynamic rates. By employing self-consistent polycrystal plasticity simulation, the relative contributions of initial crystallographic texture, latent hardening and anisotropic grain shape effects were explored. The simulation results suggest that the ND and TD r-values are strongly affected by anisotropic grain shape, whereas the RD is rather insensitive to grain shape. Although the polycrystal model correctly predicts the mild flow strength anisotropy, the predicted strain anisotropy (variations in r value) are higher than that observed experimentally. Interestingly, assuming the grain shape to be equiaxed gives the best overall results, which suggests that the morphological texture does not play a major role in determining the anisotropy of materials such as the present heat treatable Al alloy.

Texture-based forming limit prediction for Mg sheet alloys ZE10 and AZ31

A viscoplastic self-consistent crystal plasticity model was employed to study the formability of two magnesium sheet alloys, i.e., AZ31 and ZE10 at 200 °C. The flow stress-strain curves obtained by uniaxial tension tests at various strain rates and the crystallographic texture obtained from X-ray diffraction were used to calibrate the model. The crystal plasticity model was incorporated with the Marciniak–Kuczyński model in order to address the forming limits of the magnesium sheets. A good agreement of the model predictions with the experimental data obtained by Nakajima tests was achieved. The model was further studied to quantify the effects of the sample orientation with respect to laboratory axes, the amount of pre-strain applied to the sheet prior to forming, and the initial crystallographic texture. The resulting forming limit diagrams demonstrate the optimal choice of sample orientation and crystallographic texture that can lead to a significant improvement in forming limit strains.