Homogenization method for strength and inelastic behavior of nanocrystalline materials

Homogenization techniques are used for modeling the so-called breakdown of the Hall-Petch law in the case of nanocrystalline (NC) materials. In this paper, the NC material is modeled as a composite material composed of two phases: the grain core (inclusion) and the grain boundaries (matrix). The deformation of the inclusion phase has a viscoplastic component that takes into account the dislocation glide mechanism as well as Coble creep. The boundary phase is modeled as an amorphous material with a perfect elastic-plastic behavior. An application of the model is developed on pure copper under tensile load. The results are compared with various experimental data. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.