An efficient elasto-visco-plastic self-consistent formulation: Application to steel subjected to loading path changes

A novel elasto-visco-plastic self-consistent (EVPSC) formulation based on the scheme of the homogeneous effective medium is presented. The constitutive behavior of a polycrystal is described as that of an elasto-visco-plastic effective medium interacting with grains treated as elasto-viscoplastic ellipsoidal inclusions. The formulation is based on the definition of a unique elasto-viscoplastic compliance, so avoiding the inconsistency arising from assuming superimposed elastic and visco-plastic interaction laws, as made in similar elasto-visco-plastic models. In addition, the elasto-visco-plastic constitutive equation of crystal and aggregate is formulated in terms of stress increments, which leads naturally to a semi implicit solution scheme. The superior numerical stability and computational efficiency of the new incremental EVPSC model (denoted as AEVPSC) are demonstrated by applying the model to a 316L austenitic stainless steel and comparing against other elasto-plastic models. The modeling capability for predicting texture, stress-strain response, and Bauschinger effect are demonstrated using a dislocation-density based hardening law applied to low carbon (LC) steel subjected to deformation histories that involve strain-path changes.