An experimental and numerical study of the localization behavior of tantalum and stainless steel

In general, the shear localization process involves initiation and growth. Initiation is expected to be a stochastic process in material space where anisotropy in the elastic–plastic behavior of single crystals and inter-crystalline interactions serve to form natural perturbations to the material’s local stability. A hat-shaped sample geometry was used to study shear localization growth. It is an axi-symmetric sample with an upper “hat” portion and a lower “brim” portion with the shear zone located between the hat and brim. The shear zone length is 870–890 μm with deformation imposed through a split-Hopkinson pressure bar system at maximum top-to-bottom velocity in the range of 8–25 m/s. We present experimental results of the deformation response of tantalum and 316L stainless steel samples. The tantalum samples did not form shear bands but the stainless steel sample formed a late stage shear band. We have also modeled these experiments using both conductive and adiabatic continuum models. An anisotropic elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model with damage evolution was used within the finite element code EPIC. A Mie-Gruneisen equation of state and the rate and temperature sensitive MTS flow stress model together with a Gurson flow surface were employed. The models performed well in predicting the experimental data. The numerical results for tantalum suggested a maximum equivalent strain rate on the order of 7 × 104 s−1 in the gage section for an imposed top surface displacement rate of 17.5 m/s. The models also suggested that for an initial temperature of 298 K a temperature in the neighborhood of 900 K was reached within the shear section. The numerical results for stainless steel suggest that melting temperature was reached throughout the shear band shortly after peak load. Due to sample geometry, the stress state in the shear zone was not pure shear; a significant normal stress relative to the shear zone basis line was developed.