A Phenomenological Mean Field Model for Coupling Phase Transformation with Plasticity

Abstract

The interaction between martensitic phase transformation (MPT) and plasticity is highly relevant for describing the thermomechanical behavior of maraging steels. Contrary to materials undergoing coherent phase transformations the challenge of modeling maraging steels is the generation of plastic strains through high internal stresses triggered by MPT. In dependence of different thermomechanical multiaxial load cases the material behavior changes dramatically according to the diversity of selected martensitic variants, which influences the transformation strain as well as the induced plastic deformation. A phenomenological mean-field-model based on the β-scale transition rule has been developed for coupling MPT and TRIP. Furthermore, the evolution of the transformation surface as well as its convexity have been studied. The model predicts the material behavior for several thermomechanical multiaxial load cases very well as is demonstrated by a large experimental database.