Strong Strain Hardening in Nanocrystalline Nickel

Low strain hardening has hitherto been considered an intrinsic behavior for most nanocrystalline (NC) metals, due to their perceived inability to accumulate dislocations. In this Letter, we show strong strain hardening in NC nickel with a grain size of 20 nm under large plastic strains. Contrary to common belief, we have observed significant dislocation accumulation in the grain interior. This is enabled primarily by Lomer-Cottrell locks, which pin the lock-forming dislocations and obstruct islocation. motion. These observations may help with developing strong and ductile NC metals and alloys.

Higher-order analysis of crack tip fields in elastic power-law hardening materials

A HIGHER-ORDER asymptotic analysis of a stationary crack in an elastic power-law hardening material has been carried out for plane strain, Mode 1. The extent to which elasticity affects the near-tip fields is determined by the strain hardening exponent n. Five terms in the asymptotic series for the stresses have been derived for n = 3. However, only three amplitudes can be independently prescribed. These are K1, K2 and K5 corresponding to amplitudes of the first-, second- and fifth-order terms. Four terms in the asymptotic series have been obtained for n = 5, 7 and 10; in these cases, the independent amplitudes are K1, K2 and K4. It is found that appropriate choices of K2 and K4 can reproduce near-tip fields representative of a broad range of crack tip constraints in moderate and low hardening materials. Indeed, fields characterized by distinctly different stress triaxiality levels (established by finite element analysis) have been matched by the asymptotic series. The zone of dominance of the asymptotic series extends over distances of about 10 crack openings ahead of the crack tip encompassing length scales that are microstructurally significant. Furthermore, the higher-order terms collectively describe a spatially uniform hydrostatic stress field (of adjustable magnitude) ahead of the crack. Our results lend support to a suggestion that J and a measure of near-tip stress triaxiality can describe the full range of near-tip states.

The thermo-visco-plastic instability analysis of saturated soil

A theoretical analysis of instability of saturated soil is presented considering the simple shearing of a heat conducting thermo-visco-plastic material. It is shown that the instability is mainly the consequence of thermal softening which overcomes the strain hardening and the other type of instability is controlled by strain softening. The effects of other factors such as permeability to the instability are discussed in this paper.

Elastic-plastic constitutive relation of particle reinforced composites

In this paper, a systematic approach is proposed to obtain the macroscopic elastic-plastic constitutive relation of particle reinforced composites (PRC). The strain energy density of PRC is analyzed based on the cell model, and Che analytical formula for the macro-constitutive relation of PRC is obtained. The strength effects of volume fraction of the particle and the strain hardening exponent of matrix material on the macro-constitutive relation are investigated, the relation curve of strain versus stress of PRC is calculated in detail. The present results are consistent; with the results given in the existing references.

The instability analysis of saturated soil under shear load

A theoretical description of shear instability is presented in a system of equations. It is shown that two types of instability may exist. One of them is dominated by pore pressure softening while the other by strain softening. A criterion combining pore pressure softening, strain hardening, and volume strain coefficient is obtained and practical implications are discussed.

A New Modified Expanding Cavity Model for Characterizing the Spherical Indentation Behaviour of Bulk Metallic Glass with Pile-up

Spherical nanoindentation tests were performed on Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 bulk metallic glass and pile-ups were observed around the indenter. A new modified expanding cavity model was developed to characterize the indentation deformation behavior of strain-hardening and pressure-dependent materials. By using this model, the representative stress-strain response of this bulk metallic glass to hardness and indentation in the elastic-plastic regime were obtained taking into consideration the effect of pile-up.

Deformation behavior and microstructure effect in 2124Al/SiCp composite

Dynamic compression tests were performed by means of a Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB). Test materials were 2124Al alloys reinforced with 17% volume fraction of 3, 13 and 37 μm SiC particles, respectively. Under strain rate ε = 2100 l/s, SiC particles have a strong effect on σ_0.2 of the composites and the σ_0.2 increases with different SiC particle size in the following order: 2124Al-alloy → 124Al/SiC_p (37 μm) → 2124Al/SiC_p (13 μm) → 2124Al/SiC_p (3 μm), and the strain hardening of the composites depends mainly on the strain hardening of matrix, 2124A1 alloy. The results of dimensional analysis present that the flow stress of these composites not only depends on the property of reinforcement and matrix but also relates to the microstructure scale, matrix grain size, reinforcement size, the distance between reinforcements and dislocations in matrix. The normalized flow stress here is a function of inverse power of the edge-edge particle spacing, dislocation density and matrix grain size. Close-up observation shows that, in the composite containing SiC particles (3 μm), localized deformation formed readily comparing with other materials under the same loading condition. Microscopic observations indicate that different plastic flow patterns occur within the matrix due to the presence of hard particles with different sizes.

Particulate Size Effects in the Particle-Reinforced Metal-Matrix Composites

The influences of I,article size on the mechanical properties of the particulate metal matrix composite;are obviously displayed in the experimental observations. However, the phenomenon can not be predicted directly using the conventional elastic-plastic theory. It is because that no length scale parameters are involved in the conventional theory. In the present research, using the strain gradient plasticity theory, a systematic research of the particle size effect in the particulate metal matrix composite is carried out. The roles of many composite factors, such as: the particle size, the Young's modulus of the particle, the particle aspect ratio and volume fraction, as well as the plastic strain hardening exponent of the matrix material, are studied in detail. In order to obtain a general understanding for the composite behavior, two kinds of particle shapes, ellipsoid and cylinder, are considered to check the strength dependence of the smooth or non-smooth particle surface. Finally, the prediction results will be applied to the several experiments about the ceramic particle-reinforced metal-matrix composites. The material length scale parameter is predicted.

Study Of Mechanical Properties Of Amorphous Copper With Molecular Dynamics Simulation

The formation and mechanical properties of amorphous copper are studied using molecular dynamics simulation. The simulations of tension and shearing show that more pronounced plasticity is found under shearing, compared to tension. Apparent strain hardening and strain rate effect are observed. Interestingly, the variations of number density of atoms during deformation indicate free volume creation, especially under higher strain rate. In particular, it is found that shear induced dilatation does appear in the amorphous metal.

On the mechanism of void growth and the effect of straining mode in ductile materials

Finite element analysis is employed to investigate void growth embedded in elastic-plastic matrix material. Axisymmetric and plane stress conditions are considered. The simulation of void growth in a unit cell model is carried out over a wide range of triaxial tensile stressing or large plastic straining for various strain hardening materials to study the mechanism of void growth in ductile materials. Triaxial tension and large plastic strain encircling around the void are found to be of most importance for driving void growth. The straining mode of incremental loading which favors the necessary strain concentration around void for its growth can be characterized by the vanishing condition of a parameter called "the third invariant of generalized strain rate". Under this condition, it accentuates the internal strain concentration and the strain energy stored/dissipated within the material layer surrounding the void. Experimental results are cited to justify the effect of this loading parameter. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of a novel Zr-based bulk metallic glass composite

Zr48.5Cu46.5Al5 bulk metallic glass (BMG) composites with diameters of 3 and,4 mm were prepared through suction casting in an arc melting furnace by modulating the alloy composition around the monothetic BMG composition of the high glass forming ability. Microstructural characterization reveals that the composites contain micron-sized CuZr phase with martensite structure, as well as nano-sized Zr2Cu crystalline particles and Cu10Zr7 plate-like phase embedded in an amorphous matrix. Room temperature compression tests showed that the composites exhibited significant strain hardening and obvious plastic strain of 7.7% for 3 nun and 6.4% for 4 nun diameter samples, respectively.

Molecular dynamics simulation of plastic deformation of nanotwinned copper

The plastic deformation of polycrystalline Cu with ultrathin lamella twins has been studied using molecular dynamics simulations. The results of uniaxial tensile deformation simulation show that the abundance of twin boundaries provides obstacles to dislocation motion, which in consequence leads to a high strain hardening rate in the nanotwinned Cu. We also show that the twin lamellar spacing plays a vital role in controlling the strengthening effects, i.e., the thinner the thickness of the twin lamella, the harder the material. Additionally, twin boundaries can act as dislocation nucleation sites as they gradually lose coherency at large strain. These results indicate that controlled introduction of nanosized twins into metals can be an effective way of improving strength without suppression tensile ductility. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Asymptotic solution of mode-iii crack in damaged softening materials

In this paper, a constitutive model of elasticity coupled with damage suggested by Lemaitre et al, [1] is used. The macroscopic stress-strain response of the model includes two stages: strain hardening and strain softening. The basic equation is derived for the anti-plane shear problem. Several lowest order asymptotic solutions are obtained, and assembled for the crack-tip fields.

Influence of secondary void damage in the matrix material around voids

The mechanism of ductile damage caused by secondary void damage in the matrix around primary voids is studied by large strain, finite element analysis. A cylinder embedding an initially spherical void, a plane stress cell with a circular void and plane strain cell with a cylindrical or a flat void are analysed under different loading conditions. Secondary voids of smaller scale size nucleate in the strain hardening matrix, according to the requirements of some stress/strain criteria. Their growth and coalescence, handled by the empty element technique, demonstrate distinct mechanisms of damage as circumstances change. The macroscopic stress-strain curves are decomposed and illustrated in the form of the deviatoric and the volumetric parts. Concerning the stress response and the void growth prediction, comparisons are made between the present numerical results and those of previous authors. It is shown that loading condition, void growth history and void shape effect incorporated with the interaction between two generations of voids should be accounted for besides the void volume fraction.

Elastic-plastic finite element analyses of short cracks

Stress and strain distributions and crack opening displacement characteristics of short cracks have been studied in single edge notch bend and centre cracked panel specimens using elastic–plastic finite element analyses incorporating both a non strain hardening and a power law hardening behaviour. J contour integral solutions to describe stress strain conditions at crack tips for short cracks differ from those for long cracks. The analyses show that (i) short cracks can propagate at stress levels lower than those required for long cracks and (ii) a two-parameter description of crack tip fields is necessary for crack propagation.