Modelling inheritance of plastic deformation during migration of phase boundaries using a phase field method

Recent advances in phase field modelling include the description of elastoviscoplastic material behaviour of the phases combined with diffusion and phase transformation. The corresponding models can be classified into two main groups of theories, referred to as interpolation and homogenisation models in the present work. It is shown that both approaches strongly differ concerning the question of inheritance of plastic deformation after the passing of a phase transformation front. Inheritance of plastic deformation is to be distinguished from the inheritance of the microstructure hardening and the corresponding dislocation structures. That is why the analysis is performed in the absence of hardening in the constitutive model. Finite element simulations of the growth of elastic misfitting precipitates embedded in a rate-independent elastoplastic matrix material reveal that the interpolation model allows for total inheritance of plastic deformation in contrast to the homogenisation model. The residual stress field and the growth kinetics are shown to be impacted by this essential property of the models. The results suggest that new models should be designed that allow for partial and controlled inheritance.