A dislocation density-based crystal plasticity constitutive model: comparison of VPSC effective medium predictions with ρ-CP finite element predictions

This work presents a dislocation density-based crystal plasticity constitutive model for glide kinetics, strengthening and dislocation density evolution, implemented in the effective medium-based visco-plastic self consistent (VPSC) framework and the spatially resolved, rho-CP crystal plasticity finite element framework. Additionally, a distribution of intragranular stresses is introduced in the VPSC framework, instead of the conventionally used mean value of grain stress for effective medium calculations. The rho-CP model is first calibrated to predict the mechanical response of a bcc ferritic steel with an initial rolled texture. The same set of constitutive model parameters are then used in VPSC to predict the aggregate stress-strain response and total dislocation densities. For these VPSC simulations, the interaction parameter governing the interaction between the grain and the effective medium in the Eshelby inclusion formalism, and a scalar parameter representative of the distribution of intragranular stresses within a grain, are used to calibrate the VPSC predictions in order to match the predictions of the rho-CP model. A parametric study is performed to understand the effect of these two parameters on the VPSC predictions. Further, simulations are also performed for a random untextured polycrystal to identify the corresponding VPSC simulation parameters for predicting a similar response as the rho-CP model. The novelty of the work is in the same set of constitutive models and associated parameters have been implemented in VPSC and rho-CP to predict similar aggregate stress-strain response and total dislocation densities. This finite element-calibrated effective medium crystal plasticity approach reduces the computational time by at least two orders of magnitude and represents an advance towards the development of multiscale crystal plasticity modeling tools.