A coupled multiscale model of texture evolution and plastic anisotropy

In this paper we present a multiscale model of a plastic deformation process in which the anisotropy of plastic properties is related to the evolution of the crystallographic texture. The model spans several length scales from the macroscopic deformation of the workpiece to the microscale interactions between individual grains in a polycrystalline material. The macroscopic behaviour of the material is described by means of a Finite Element (FE) model. Plastic anisotropy is taken into account in a constitutive law, based on the concept of a plastic potential in strain rate space. The coefficients of a sixth-order Facet equation are determined using the Taylor theory, provided that the current crystallographic texture at a given FE integration point is known. Texture evolution in the FE integration points is predicted by an ALAMEL micromechanical model. Mutual interactions between coarse and fine scale are inherent in the physics of the deformation process. These dependencies are taken into account by full bidirectional coupling in the model. Therefore, the plastic deformation influences the crystallographic texture and the evolution of the texture induces anisotropy of the macroscopic deformation. The presented approach enables an adaptive texture and yield surface update scheme with respect to the local plastic deformation in the FE integration points. Additionally, the computational cost related to the updates of the constitutive law is reduced by application of parallel computing techniques. Suitability of on-demand computing for this computational problem is discussed. The parallelisation strategy addresses both distributed memory and shared memory architectures. The cup drawing process has been simulated using the multiscale model outlined above. The discussion of results includes the analysis of the planar anisotropy in the cup and the influence of complex deformation path on texture development. Evolution of texture at selected material points is assessed as well.status: publishe