Modeling of cyclic hardening and evaluation of plastic strain range in the presence of pre-loading and ratcheting

An extended evolution equation of cyclic hardening is proposed to include the effect of maximum plastic strain due to pre-loading and ratcheting. A set of extended evolution equations is also proposed for a plastic strain surface to properly evaluate the cyclic plastic strain range in the presence of pre-loading and ratcheting. These extensions are verified by performing uniaxial cyclic experiments of 316 stainless steel at 600 degrees C. The experiments are accurately simulated using a constitutive model with the extensions in addition to the resetting scheme of the plastic strain surface recently proposed by the authors. The extension for the plastic strain surface allows fairly good simulation of the experiments without recourse to the resetting scheme if the strain range does not markedly decrease with the number of cycles. The extended equations are further used to discuss the effect of maximum plastic strain considering previous experiments.

Automated summary

In this study, an extended evolution equation for cyclic hardening and a set of evolution equations for plastic strain surface were proposed to properly evaluate the cyclic plastic strain range under pre-loading and ratcheting conditions. These extensions were verified through uniaxial cyclic experiments on 316 stainless steel at 600 degrees C and proved to accurately simulate the experiments without the need for a resetting scheme if the strain range does not significantly decrease with cycles. The extended equations were also used to discuss the effect of maximum plastic strain based on previous experiments.