A numerical and experimental study of cavitation in a hot tensile axisymmetric testpiece

During axisymmetric hot tensile testing, necking normally takes place due to the thermal gradient and the accumulation of microdamage. This paper introduces an integrated technique to predict the damage and necking evolution behaviour. Firstly, a set of multiaxial mechanism-based unified viscoplastic-damage constitutive equations is presented. This equation set, which models the evolution of grain boundary (intragranular) and plasticityinduced (intergranular) damage, is determined for a free-cutting steel tested over a range of temperatures and strain rates on a Gleeble thermomechanical simulator. This model has been implemented using the CREEP subroutine of the commercial finite element (FE) solver ABAQUS. Numerical procedures to simulate axisymmetric hot tensile deformation are developed with consideration of the thermal gradient along the axis of the tensile testpiece. FE simulations are carried out to reproduce the necking phenomenon and the evolution of plasticity-induced and grain boundary damage. The simulated results have been validated with experimental tensile test results. The effects of necking and its associated stress state on flow stress and ductility are investigated. The flow stress and ductility data obtained from a Gleeble material simulator under various hot deformation conditions have also been numerically studied.