Understanding the Effect of Plastic Deformation on Elastic Modulus of Metals Based on a Percolation Model with Electron Work Function

The elastic modulus of materials is usually treated as a constant in engineering applications. However, plastic deformation may result in changes in the elastic modulus of metallic materials. Using brass, aluminum, and low-carbon steel as sample materials, it is demonstrated that plastic deformation decreased the elastic modulus of the materials by 10% to 20%. A percolation model incorporating the electron work function is proposed to correlate such plastic-strain-induced variations in the elastic modulus to corresponding changes in the electron work function. Efforts are made to understand the observed phenomenon on an electronic basis. The obtained experimental results are consistent with the theoretical analysis.