PLASTICITY.

Flow rule for isotropic hardening

For a perfectly plastic material we had the following yield hypothesis: (1) which in the von Mises case became (2)

For an isotropically hardening material, we will, instead, have (3) which in the von Mises case can be written (4)

where is a scalar (called flow stress) that increases monotonically with the plastic deformation. The von Mises case makes it evident that is the instantaneous plastic yield limit, that we still keep the main diagonal of the stress space as a symmetry axis of the yield surface and that we keep the circular-cylindrical shape of the yield surface. What happens as the plastic flow develops is that since increases, the diameter of the von Mises cylinder increases. See Fig. 1! This is why this plastic hardening is called isotropic hardening.

Original yield surface f = e s = 0 Yield surface after plastic flow f = e f = 0

Fig. 1 Isotropic hardening (von Mises)

The most frequent isotropic hardening description results from setting (5)

In case of von Mises, (6)

(From earlier, we know that the definition of is such that ). Note in particular that Eq. (5) shows that one accumulates during the whole history of plastic strains (even during unloading, since is squared in the definition). By this, we can therefore say that .

Determination of d for the von Mises case

During plastic flow, we must have (7) By Eq. (4), Eq. (7b) gives (8) Using the previously derived expression for (9) this gives

(10)

The definition of

[for instance, Eq. (6)] and the general flow rule (11)

gives a simple relation between

and

(12)

which gives us the final expression for

(13)

Flow rule, isotropic hardening, von Mises

Combining Eqs. (9), (11) and (13) gives the flow rule

(14)

Alternatively, Eqs. (9), (11) and (12) give (15) These are usually called the Prandtl-Reu equations.

Determination of

. Uniaxial tensile test

(16)

In a standard uniaxial tensile test, during plastic flow we have

and (17) I.e., (18) and (19)

In the uniaxial tensile test, the function (20) will therefore simplify into (21) and the function can be found from the test results. Suppose, for instance, that the uniaxial test curve of Fig. 2 has been recorded. In the plastic region one then has

(22)

Fig.2 Uniaxial tensile test curve

Note, therefore, that the derivative postprocessed in order to find !

directly measured in the uniaxial test curve must be

In a simple case, this function may be linear, i.e., (23) and (24) The flow rule can then be simplified: (25) or (26) (the 2nd equality since during plastic flow, ). Eq. (26) is perhaps the most convenient version of the flow rule. Note, again, that a linear stiffness measured in a tensile test must be recalculated in order to find c(i) (see Eq. (22)!).