Deformation-Induced Surface Roughening of an Aluminum-Magnesium Alloy: Experimental Characterization and Crystal Plasticity Modeling.

The deformation-induced surface roughening of an Al-Mg alloy is analyzed using a combination of experiments and modeling. A mesoscale oligocrystal of AA5052-O, obtained by recrystallization annealing and subsequent thickness reduction by machining, that contains approx. 40 grains is subjected to uniaxial tension. The specimen contains one layer of grains through the thickness. A laser confocal microscope is used to measure the surface topography of the deformed specimen. A finite element model with realistic (non-columnar) shapes of the grains based on a pair of Electron Back-Scatter Diffraction (EBSD) scans of a given specimen is constructed using a custom-developed shape interpolation procedure. A Crystal Plasticity Finite Element (CPFE) framework is then applied to the voxel model of the tension test of the oligocrystal. The unknown material parameters are determined inversely using an efficient, custom-built optimizer. Predictions of the deformed shape of the specimen, surface topography, evolution of the average roughness with straining and texture evolution are compared to experiments. The model reproduces the averaged features of the problem, while missing some local details. As an additional verification of the CPFE model, the statistics of surface roughening are analyzed by simulating uniaxial tension of an AA5052-O polycrystal and comparing it to experiments. The averaged predictions are found to be in good agreement with the experimentally observed trends. Finally, using the same polycrystalline specimen, texture-morphology relations are discovered, using a symbolic Monte Carlo approach. Simple relations between the Schmid factor and roughness can be inferred purely from the experiments. Novelties of this work include: realistic 3D shapes of the grains; efficient and accurate identification of material parameters instead of manual tuning; a fully analytical Jacobian for the crystal plasticity model with quadratic convergence; novel texture-morphology relations for polycrystal.

Plasticity and Formability of Annealed, Commercially-Pure Aluminum: Experiments and Modeling.

The plasticity and formability of a commercially-pure aluminum sheet (AA1100-O) is assessed by experiments and analyses. Plastic anisotropy of this material is characterized by uniaxial and plane-strain tension along with disk compression experiments, and is found to be non-negligible (e.g., the r-values vary between 0.445 and 1.18). On the other hand, the strain-rate sensitivity of the material is negligible at quasistatic rates. These results are used to calibrate constitutive models, i.e., the Yld2000-2d anisotropic yield criterion as the plastic potential and the Voce isotropic hardening law. Marciniak-type experiments on a fully-instrumented hydraulic press are performed to determine the Forming Limit Curve of this material. Stereo-type Digital Image Correlation is used, which confirms the proportional strain paths induced during stretching. From these experiments, limit strains, i.e., the onset of necking, are determined by the method proposed by ISO, as well as two methods based on the second derivative. To identify the exact instant of necking, a criterion based on a statistical analysis of the noise that the strain signals have during uniform deformation versus the systematic deviations that necking induces is proposed. Finite element simulation for the Marciniak-type experiment is conducted and the results show good agreement with the experiment.

Residual Ductility and Microstructural Evolution in Continuous-Bending-under-Tension of AA-6022-T4.

A ubiquitous experiment to characterize the formability of sheet metal is the simple tension test. Past research has shown that if the material is repeatedly bent and unbent during this test (i.e., Continuous-Bending-under-Tension, CBT), the percent elongation at failure can significantly increase. In this paper, this phenomenon is evaluated in detail for AA-6022-T4 sheets using a custom-built CBT device. In particular, the residual ductility of specimens that are subjected to CBT processing is investigated. This is achieved by subjecting a specimen to CBT processing and then creating subsize tensile test and microstructural samples from the specimens after varying numbers of CBT cycles. Interestingly, the engineering stress initially increases after CBT processing to a certain number of cycles, but then decreases with less elongation achieved for increasing numbers of CBT cycles. Additionally, a detailed microstructure and texture characterization are performed using standard scanning electron microscopy and electron backscattered diffraction imaging. The results show that the material under CBT preserves high integrity to large plastic strains due to a uniform distribution of damage formation and evolution in the material. The ability to delay ductile fracture during the CBT process to large plastic strains, results in formation of a strong <111> fiber texture throughout the material.