This book summarizes research advances in micromechanics modeling of ductile fractures made in the past two decades. The ultimate goal of this book is to reach manufacturing frontline designers and materials engineers by providing a user-oriented, theoretical background of micromechanics modeling. Accordingly, the book is organized in a unique way, first presenting a vigorous damage percolation model developed by the authors over the last ten years. This model overcomes almost all difficulties of the existing models and can be used to completely accommodate ductile damage developments within a single-measure microstructure frame. Related void damage criteria including nucleation, growth and coalescence are then discussed in detail: how they are improved, when and where they are used in the model, and how the model performs in comparison with the existing models. Sample forming simulations are provided to illustrate the model’s performance.

Dynamic tensile tests and instrumented impact tests with Charpy-V-notch specimens and precracked Charpy specimens (SENB) are performed and simulated. Two strain-rate dependent micromechanical models based on the modified Gurson flow function are compared by simulating different dynamically loaded specimens. One purpose of the study is to investigate the influence of strain rate on the parameters of the micromechanical models and thus to check the applicability of these models for dynamic loading. Another purpose is to find out the relation between the micromechanical approach and conventional fracture mechanics.

Ductile Fracture in Metal Forming: Modeling and Simulation examines the current understanding of the mechanics and physics of ductile fracture in metal forming processes while also providing an approach to micromechanical ductile fracture prediction that can be applied to all metal forming processes. Starting with an overview of different ductile fracture scenarios, the book then goes on to explain modeling techniques that predict a range of mechanical phenomena that can lead to ductile fracture. The challenges in creating micromechanical models are addressed alongside methods of applying these models to several common metal forming processes. This book is suitable for researchers working in mechanics of materials, metal forming, mechanical metallurgy, and plasticity. Engineers in R&D industries involved in metal forming such as manufacturing, aerospace, and automation will also find the book very useful. Explains innovative micromechanical modeling techniques for a variety of material behaviors Examines how these models can be applied to metal forming processes in practice, including blanking, arrowed cracks in drawing, and surface cracks in upset forging Provides a thorough examination of both macroscopic and microscopic ductile fracture theory

The micro-mechanics based approach to the study of ductile fracture has successfully overcome many of the limitations (such as large scale material yielding, cyclic loading, and size/scale dependence of J) of traditional fracture mechanics approaches (i.e. K, J and CTOD's). A number of the currently available micro-mechanics models (i.e. SMCS, Hancock and McKenzie, 1975; VGM, Kanvinde and Deierlein, 2006) predict fracture accurately under high triaxiality and axisymmetric conditions; however, the mentioned conditions do not encompass the full range of stress states (including low-triaxiality or non-axisymmetric conditions) which are relevant to the structural, mechanical and aerospace industries. As such, the primary objective of the work presented in this dissertation is to inform the development of a more general damage model which is applicable to a broader range of stress states and seismic (i.e. cyclic) loading which can result in ultra-low cycle fatigue (ULCF) failures. New model development is realized through a collaborative multi-scale approach which combines the results of an extensive test series (Smith, 2014) and a series of computational void simulations. To probe the full range of practical stress/loading conditions, a more general finite element (FE) framework for simulating the response of micro-voids is developed. The new void cell framework and the results of the 146 void simulations comprise the primary body of work presented in this dissertation. The void simulations can be divided into two groups: (1) those which effectively simulate an array of voids while modeling a representative void cell, and (2) those which explicitly model an array of voids. Void growth rates measured from the single void model (SVM) are used to inform the selection of a new functional form for the damage model presented in this dissertation while the multi-void model (MVM) provides qualitative and quantitative insights regarding localized deformation between neighboring voids. Findings from the MVM simulations are (1) in agreement with observations obtained from sectioned images (Smith, 2014) of fracture coupons that expose undergrown voids in the near vicinity of the failure surface and (2) are used to develop a strain-based indicator for localization initiation that shows strong agreement with failure strains observed from coupon scale tests (Myers, 2009). Moreover, the trends observed from both model types indicate that there is minimal void growth and that localization does not occur at low triaxialities. Both finding suggest that an alternate fracture mechanism than the traditionally excepted 'growth to coalescence' mechanism is active under these conditions. Despite the power of micro-mechanics based models, the ability to arrive at accurate fracture predictions is contingent on the calibration of the parameters which define the material constitutive response. The capability for complementary FE simulations to reproduce the force-displacement response obtained from physical tests (which is typically relied upon for model calibration) provides a false sense of security and neglects issues (i.e. non-uniqueness of the model parameter set) associated with model over-fitting. To investigate the susceptibility of typical calibration approaches to result in non-unique fits, a simple example is employed. Results of the example demonstrate that (1) multiple (and therefore non-unique) parameter sets may adequately reproduce the force-displacement response of typical calibration specimen and (2) that local plastic strains (often used to evaluate local fracture criteria) can result in error more than 65% despite agreement with the calibration metric. Thus, selection of parameter sets based solely on qualitative agreement between test data and complementary simulations can lead to erroneous results when evaluating material resistance to fracture.

- self-contained and well illustrated - complete and comprehensive derivation of mechanical/mathematical results with enphasis on issues of practical importance - combines classical subjects of fracture mechanics with modern topics such as microheterogeneous materials, piezoelectric materials, thin films, damage - mechanically and mathematically clear and complete derivations of results