Orientation dependence of shear banding in face-centered-cubic single crystals

We present crystal plasticity finite element simulations of plane strain compression of CL-Brass single crystals with different initial orientations. The aim is to study the fundamentals of mesoscale structure and texture development in face-centered-cubic (fcc) metals with low stacking fault energy (SFE). Shear banding depends on the initial orientation of the crystals. In Copper and Brass-R-oriented crystals which show the largest tendency to form shear bands, an inhomogeneous texture distribution induced by shear banding is observed. To also understand the influence of the micromechanical boundary conditions on shear band formation, simulations on Copper-oriented single crystals with varying sample geometry and loading conditions are performed. We find that shear banding can be understood in terms of a mesoscopic softening mechanism. The predicted local textures and the shear banding patterns agree well with experimental observations in low SFE fcc crystals. (C) 2012 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.