Yield Stress

The mathematical theory of plasticity provides a theoretical description of the relationship

between stress and strain for a material which exhibits an elasto-plastic characteristic. The
plastic behaviour is characterised by an irreversible straining which can only be sustained
once a certain level of stress has been reached. To formulate the theory of plasticity the
material must fulfil three basic requirements as suggested in the book Finite Elements in
Plasticity, Theory and Practise by D. R. J. Owen and E. Hinton:

An explicit relationship between stress and strain must be formulated to describe

material behaviour under elastic conditions, i.e. before the onset of plastic

deformation.
A yield criterion which indicates the stress level at which the material has plastic flow

should be assumed or suggested based on existing knowledge.

A relationship between stress and strain must be developed for post yield behaviour,
i.e. when the deformation is made up of both elastic and plastic components.

Before the material attains plasticity, it is defined by standard linear elasticity given by:-

ij = Cijkl kl.
The stress at which plastic deformation starts is known as yield criteria and is given as:f(ij) = k ().
Yield point of a material is the stress at which material deforms plastically. A yield criterion is
a surface concerning the limit of elasticity under any combination of stresses and is a locus of
these yield points. For the plastic flow to continue, the state of stress must remain on the yield
surface. A yield criterion is mainly of two types:

Isotropic yield criteria.

Anisotropic yield criteria.

Isotropic yield criteria: - the properties of the material are uniform in all directions even
after material undergoes plastic deformation.
Some of the isotropic yield criterions are as follows:

Von Mises yield criterion.

Tresca (maximal shear stress) yield criterion.
Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion.
Drucker Prager yield criterion.

Anisotropic yield criteria: - plastic yield behaviour is directional dependency, i.e. the grain
size and orientation changes in the direction of deformation, when the material is subjected to
large plastic deformation.
Anisotropic yield criteria are:

Hills quadratic yield criterion.

Generalized Hill yield criterion.
Hosford yield criterion.

In this project we are considering the isotropic yield criteria.

There are at least three principal planes in a body which is stressed at every point. These
planes have stress vector perpendicular to the plane. The three stresses perpendicular to the
planes are called principal stresses. The stress tensor is a scalar quantity; hence it does not

have orientation on its own. The stress tensor component

ij

is dependent on the

orientation of the point under consideration. The value of this component depends on its
orientation (direction) for vector, but the length is a scalar quantity.