Aluminium alloys are typically used in a variety of applications, which require high strength, ductility and formability. In order to understand the formability of such alloys along with underlying mechanisms, a CPFEM based study has been performed using local and non-local crystal plasticity theories. Crystal plasticity finite element methods [1]–[4] have been used to perform the simulations on representative volume elements (RVE's) of single crystal metal with different configurations, sizes and shapes of voids (defects).

A rigorous study will be presented in this work by taking into account the effect of void geometry, void fraction, void orientation, loading type (level of triaxiality), and crystallographic orientations. Using these large sets of simulations, an analysis will be presented to better understand the underlying physical mechanisms which include interrelation among void growth, applied strain, void fraction, void size/shape, plasticity anisotropy, and local/non-local effects under different types of loading.

Lastly, the results will be correlated with the experimental data to better explain the microvoid behavior in selected aluminium alloy.

References

 [1] A. Siddiq, S. Schmauder, and Y. Huang, “Fracture of bicrystal metal/ceramic interfaces: a study via the mechanism-based strain gradient crystal plasticity theory,” Int. J. Plast., vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 665–689, 2007.

[2] A. Siddiq and S. Schmauder, “Interface fracture analyses of a bicrystal niobium/alumina specimen using a cohesive modelling approach,” Model. Simul. Mater. Sci. Eng., vol. 14, no. 6, p. 1015, 2006.

[3] A. Siddiq and T. El Sayed, “Acoustic softening in metals during ultrasonic assisted deformation via CP-FEM,” Mater. Lett., vol. 65, no. 2, pp. 356–359, Jan. 2011. 

[4] A. Siddiq and T. El Sayed, “A thermomechanical crystal plasticity constitutive model for ultrasonic consolidation,” Comput. Mater. Sci., vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 241–251, Jan. 2012.