A new yield function and a hydrostatic stress-controlled void nucleation model for porous solids with pressure-sensitive matrices

A macroscopic yield function for porous solids with pressure-sensitive matrices modeled by Coulomb's yield function was obtained by generalizing Gurson's yield function with consideration of the hydrostatic yield stress of a spherical thick-walled shell and by fitting the finite element results of the yield stresses of a voided cube. The macroscopic yield function is valid for the negative hydrostatic stress as well as for the positive hydrostatic stress. From the yield function, a plastic potential function for the porous solids was derived either for plastic normality flow or for plastic non-normality flow of the pressure-sensitive matrices. In addition, void nucleation was modeled by a normal distribution function with the macroscopic hydrostatic stress regarded as a controlling stress. This set of constitutive relations was implemented into a finite element code ABAQUS as a user material subroutine to analyze the cavitation and the deformation behavior of a rubber-modified epoxy around a crack tip under the Mode I plane strain conditions. By comparing the cavitation zone and the plastic zone obtained in the analysis with those observed in an experiment, the mean stress and the standard deviation for the void nucleation model could be determined. The cavitation and the deformation behavior of the rubber-modified epoxy were also analyzed around notches under four-point bending. The size and shape of the cavitation zone and the plastic zone were shown to be in good agreement with those observed in an experiment. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.