Anisotropic response of high-purity α-titanium: Experimental characterization and constitutive modeling

This paper presents a comprehensive experimental and theoretical investigation of the deformation behavior of high-purity, polycrystalline alpha-titanium under quasi-static conditions at room temperature. The initial material in this study was a cross-rolled plate with a strong basal texture. To quantify the plastic anisotropy and the tension-compression asymmetry of this material, monotonic tensile and compressive tests were conducted, on samples cut along different directions of the plate. A new anisotropic elastic/plastic model was developed to describe the quasi-static macroscopic response of the aggregate. Key in its formulation is the use of an anisotropic yield criterion that captures strength-differential effects and an anisotropic hardening rule that accounts for texture evolution associated to twinning. A very good agreement between FE simulations using the model developed and uniaxial data was obtained. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.