Micromechanical modeling of dual phase steels

Dual phase (DP) steels having a microstructure consisting of a Ferrite matrix, in which particles of Martensite are dispersed, have received a great deal of attention due to their useful combination of high strength, high work hardening rate and ductility, all of which are favorable properties for forming processes. Experimental investigation into the effect of the harder phase volume fraction, morphology and phase distribution on mechanical properties of the dual phase steels is well established and comprehensive in the literature. In the present work, a micromechanical model is developed to capture the mechanical behavior of such materials, adopting the constitutive behavior of the constituents from the literature. Analytical approaches have been used in the past to model the DP steel material behavior, but theoretical treatments are based on the assumption of uniform deformation throughout the constituents, neglecting the local strain gradients. This assumption contradicts experimental observations, reduces the understanding of the mechanics and mechanism of deformation of such materials. Based on the micromechanical modeling of cells, several idealizations are investigated out of which the axisymmetric model is shown to display intrinsic ability to capture the expected material behavior in terms of the trend of the stress-strain curves with increasing volume fraction of the second phase and in terms of the deformation fields of the constituents. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.