Ming Li, Zhenghao Zhang, Yeqiang Bu, Haofei Zhou, Hongtao Wang, Wei Yang
{"title":"Resisting room-temperature creep in titanium alloys by pre-compression","authors":"Ming Li, Zhenghao Zhang, Yeqiang Bu, Haofei Zhou, Hongtao Wang, Wei Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.mechmat.2025.105383","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mechmat.2025.105383","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>For deep-sea submersibles, the service life of titanium alloys in lightweight pressure hulls is dictated by room-temperature creep deformation. Under high stress in deep-sea, the mechanism for room-temperature creep is primarily dominated by dislocation slip in the soft grains. Guided by the principles of dislocation pile-up and back stress hardening, a pre-compression treatment was applied to Ti80 alloy. Via pre-compression, the dislocation density increased significantly by 1.9–2.5 times in some softer grains whereas the average dislocation density only experienced a 22 % increase. This treatment effectively elevated the critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) and enhanced the resistance to dislocation motion. Accordingly, the creep stress threshold is raised by at least 14 % and the total creep strain is reduced by 80 % after 1000 h of creep at 90 % the yield strength. A creep constitutive model based on back stress evolution was developed to accurately describe the creep behavior of Ti80 alloy. That model incorporates an estimation of the initial back stress induced by pre-compression treatment and its effect on dislocation slip. The results demonstrate crucial insights into the optimization of materials for deep-sea pressure hulls and their long-term performance prediction.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18296,"journal":{"name":"Mechanics of Materials","volume":"207 ","pages":"Article 105383"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143948166","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Qian Zhang , Qiuyue Zhong , Hui Qiu , Shuo Wang , Jian Feng , Jianguo Cai
{"title":"Effects of crease angles and defects on membrane tensile behavior","authors":"Qian Zhang , Qiuyue Zhong , Hui Qiu , Shuo Wang , Jian Feng , Jianguo Cai","doi":"10.1016/j.mechmat.2025.105365","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mechmat.2025.105365","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this study, the mechanical behavior of creased membrane structures under uniaxial tensile tests is investigated after deployment, focusing on the effects of crease formation, crease angles, and induced defects. The results show that crease introduction reduces the fracture strain, although the fracture strength of creased and uncreased membranes remains similar. Moreover, the local elastic modulus of the creased region along the unfolding direction is found to be 69.5% of that of an ideal pure membrane based on the determination of crease influence width. The analysis of crease angle reveals that both fracture strength and strain increase with crease angle. For membranes with a 90°crease, the fracture strength is about 10.9% higher than that of the membrane with a horizontal crease. The elastic modulus in the direction of crease extension and shear modulus can be determined and verified through mechanical testing and finite element analysis of the angled creased membranes, forming an orthotropic elastic parameter model for the creased region. Finally, the introduction of circular holes of various sizes as geometric defects significantly affects wrinkle distribution and out-of-plane deformation, while notably reducing fracture strain and fracture stress, with the impact on fracture strain being particularly pronounced. This study offers crucial insights into the design of creased membranes, particularly for aerospace and space exploration, where performance under complex loading and defects is critical.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18296,"journal":{"name":"Mechanics of Materials","volume":"207 ","pages":"Article 105365"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143923177","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Daxuan Zhu , Jianfeng Zhao , Yanan Hu , Qianhua Kan , Guozheng Kang , Xu Zhang
{"title":"Predicting tensile behavior from nanoindentation using gradient plasticity model with neural network and genetic algorithm","authors":"Daxuan Zhu , Jianfeng Zhao , Yanan Hu , Qianhua Kan , Guozheng Kang , Xu Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.mechmat.2025.105368","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mechmat.2025.105368","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The conventional <em>J</em><sub>2</sub>-flow theory of plasticity fails to account for size-dependent behavior, limiting its ability to describe the mechanical properties of materials at the microscale accurately. In contrast, the strain gradient plasticity theory incorporates strain gradient effect, making it more suitable for capturing the indentation size effect observed in the nanoindentation of materials. This study employs the conventional theory of mechanism-based strain gradient (CMSG) model with a small strain assumption to approximate the indentation problem involving finite deformation. To extract material parameters from nanoindentation experiments, specifically focusing on the CMSG plasticity model, this study introduces an inversion method that integrates a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural network model with a genetic algorithm. Finite element simulations using the CMSG plasticity model were employed to generate training and validation data for the neural network model, which was then combined with a genetic algorithm for material parameters determination. The method was validated through comparing the simulations with the experimental results from nanoindentation and uniaxial tensile tests on pure copper. The results demonstrate a strong correlation between the experimental data and the simulations, thereby affirming the accuracy of the inversion approach in retrieving strain gradient parameters of the CMSG plasticity model. The study also highlights the critical role of the indentation size effect in microscale material behavior, offering deeper insights into mechanical properties at small scales. Moreover, the results of material parameters of annealed copper films determined by this method further illustrate the universality of the proposed approach.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18296,"journal":{"name":"Mechanics of Materials","volume":"207 ","pages":"Article 105368"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144084657","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xingyuan Zhao , Tarek Aly ElMeligy , Maxim Sokol , Michel W. Barsoum , Leslie Lamberson
{"title":"Effects of grain orientation and confinement on dynamic compressive behavior of highly oriented MAX phase Ta2AlC","authors":"Xingyuan Zhao , Tarek Aly ElMeligy , Maxim Sokol , Michel W. Barsoum , Leslie Lamberson","doi":"10.1016/j.mechmat.2025.105378","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mechmat.2025.105378","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>MAX phases are unique ternary carbides and nitrides that bridge the gap between metals and ceramics. Specifically, Ta<sub>2</sub>AlC, the MAX phase with the highest bulk modulus, offers a unique combination of metallic and ceramic properties, making it particularly well-suited for extreme applications. Fully dense, coarse-grained, and textured Ta<sub>2</sub>AlC was fabricated in bulk, achieving a global grain orientation along the c-axis with an orientation factor of 0.63. The uniaxial quasi-static and dynamic, and biaxial dynamic response was evaluated parallel (<span><math><mrow><mo>∥</mo></mrow></math></span>) and perpendicular (⊥) to the c-axis. The average dynamic strength in ⊥ c-axis orientation was 824 <em>±</em> 39 MPa, 19 % higher than the uniaxial quasi-static compressive strength of 690 <em>±</em> 55 MPa in the same orientation. The biaxial dynamic strength in this orientation, when applying a moderate 80 MPa planar confinement along basal planes (<span><math><mrow><msub><mo>⊥</mo><mo>∥</mo></msub></mrow></math></span> c-axis) had the highest average compressive strength of 1097 <em>±</em> 72 MPa. Scanning electron microscopy fractography indicates a consistent fracture mechanism within the grain orientation across different strain rates under uniaxial loading. During biaxial loading, crack propagation was delayed, with qualitative indications of shear band formation. Concurrently, both the quantity and mode of kink band formation appeared to increase, leading to an overall enhancement in final strength. The link between macroscopic failure behavior captured from ultra-high-speed imaging and microscopic fractography is discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18296,"journal":{"name":"Mechanics of Materials","volume":"207 ","pages":"Article 105378"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144105513","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A unified thermomechanically-consistent framework for fatigue failure entropy","authors":"Asghar Zajkani , Michael Khonsari","doi":"10.1016/j.mechmat.2025.105379","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mechmat.2025.105379","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper aims to develop a cyclic thermo-elastoplastic constitutive model to assess entropy generated due to uniaxial fatigue loading. The study is based on a finite element discretization for repetitive loading/unloading cycles to determine the internal dissipation and associated entropy generation. The primary objective of the study is to explore the internal friction effect as a non-destructive dissipative mechanism through the application of two distinct approaches: creep-like entropy for phenomenological yield stress relaxation and an extrapolated scheme from the thermoelastic constitution. The first facilitates a seamless transition for yield stress values, allowing them to pass smoothly from macro-plasticity to microplasticity, while incorporating a unified scheme of deformation-induced internal friction effects into constitutive equations as the material's internal state evolves. A simple self-consistent homogenization scheme is applied to establish a link between the plasticity scale submitted to cyclic loading. The latter was introduced for the first time via a rate-dependent creep-plasticity entropy to account for the non-damaging part of dissipation in both macro- and micro-plastic-dominated fatigue. This establishes a link between the mechanical degradation rate and the progression of the fatigue cycle. An additive decomposition of total entropy can individualize the inelastic entropy rate as an additional thermal part, representing a phenomenological creep-like relaxation, indicative of internal friction. Furthermore, the progression of the thermo-plastic friction effects is evaluated using the dual thermo-elastoplastic tangent modulus to provide the possibility of activating natural cooling, particularly when the mechanical loads are halted. The results of the finite element simulations show that the calculated Fracture Fatigue Entropy (FFE) values fall within a narrow range, confirming its constancy and usefulness as a material property.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18296,"journal":{"name":"Mechanics of Materials","volume":"207 ","pages":"Article 105379"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144105514","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jialin Wang , Liangbin Chen , Meirong Hao , Yang Chen , Zaoyang Guo , Jun Liang
{"title":"A hyperelastic model for hollow fiber-reinforced composites at finite deformation","authors":"Jialin Wang , Liangbin Chen , Meirong Hao , Yang Chen , Zaoyang Guo , Jun Liang","doi":"10.1016/j.mechmat.2025.105376","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mechmat.2025.105376","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study introduces a micromechanics-based constitutive model to describe the effective hyperelastic behaviors of hollow fiber-reinforced composites under finite deformation. The multiplicative decomposition approach is employed to decompose a general deformation into three fundamental deformations: isochoric uniaxial deformation along the fiber direction, equi-biaxial deformation on the transverse plane, and pure shear deformation. Based on this multiplicative decomposition, the free energy density function of the composites is thus additively decomposed into the three corresponding components. Subsequently, the effective free energy density functions of the composite for triaxial deformation (composed of the isochoric uniaxial deformation along the fiber direction and equi-biaxial deformation on the transverse plane), along-fiber shear, and transverse shear are derived using a cylindrical composite element model. The total free energy density function of the composite is then obtained by summing the contributions of these decomposed deformations. To validate the proposed model, finite element simulations based on representative volume elements are conducted. The effects of fiber volume fraction, fiber/matrix stiffness ratio, and wall thickness of hollow fiber on the effective mechanical behaviors of the composites are explored. The theoretical predictions show excellent agreement with numerical results for all considered cases, demonstrating that the proposed model reliably predicts the effective mechanical response of hollow fiber-reinforced composites under finite deformation. Finally, to further validate the prediction accuracy and computational efficiency of the developed model, it is applied to the structural analysis of a cantilever beam, with results compared to those obtained using the FE<sup>2</sup> method. This comparative analysis demonstrates again the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed approach in practical structural analysis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18296,"journal":{"name":"Mechanics of Materials","volume":"207 ","pages":"Article 105376"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143923176","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A.A. Basmaji , A. Fau , U. Nackenhorst , R. Desmorat
{"title":"Permanent strains and post-peak tensile response of concrete by three-phase conceptual modeling","authors":"A.A. Basmaji , A. Fau , U. Nackenhorst , R. Desmorat","doi":"10.1016/j.mechmat.2025.105359","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mechmat.2025.105359","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Plain concrete exhibits pronounced stress softening and permanent strains in uniaxial cyclic tension. The permanent strains in concrete have been measured since the 1980s by repeated tensile loading–unloading sequences. Nevertheless, accurately modeling the permanent strains, as well as the post-peak response, is still a challenge. To overcome it, we propose a conceptual three-phase modeling of concrete discretized by finite elements, consisting of an elastic aggregate phase, a perfectly plastic Interfacial Transition Zone (ITZ), and an anisotropically damaging mortar phase. Damage in mortar is assumed to be anisotropic and governed by extensions. The corresponding anisotropic damage model is a nonlocal one. The positivity of the intrinsic dissipation is checked. Mesh independency is gained by nonlocal integral averaging of the Mazars equivalent strain acting in the damage criterion function. The permanent strain and post-peak response of Terrien (1980) and Gopalaratnam and Shah (1985) experimental tensile references are accurately reproduced.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18296,"journal":{"name":"Mechanics of Materials","volume":"207 ","pages":"Article 105359"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143898639","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tyler Ragan , Tengyuan Hao , Daniel Olsen, Min Zhou
{"title":"Microscale model for intergranular and transgranular damage and fracture in polycrystalline ceramics","authors":"Tyler Ragan , Tengyuan Hao , Daniel Olsen, Min Zhou","doi":"10.1016/j.mechmat.2025.105363","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mechmat.2025.105363","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Intergranular and transgranular fracture play a critical role in determining the fracture behavior and toughness of polycrystalline materials. These mechanisms are governed by microstructural features, including grain size, grain shape, grain crystallographic orientations, and grain boundary properties. We present a microstructure-explicit and fracture process-explicit model for elucidating the relationships between the fracture mechanisms, microstructural features, and macroscopic fracture behavior. This cohesive finite element method (CFEM) based model accounts for anisotropic grain constitutive and fracture behaviors and misorientation angle-dependent grain boundary fracture behavior, enabling the explicit resolution of complex crack paths and patterns. The material considered is Silicon Carbide (SiC), for which the model is calibrated using experimental and molecular dynamics data. Simulations under impact loading reveal dependencies of spall strength on grain size and grain shape. Specifically, the spall strength increases with grain size. The grain shape, characterized by the aspect ratio, also exhibits a strong influence on the spall strength, with grains elongated in the direction of impact loading providing up to two-fold increases in the spall strength over aspect ratios in the range of 0.2–10. Analyses reveal that the interplay between intergranular fracture and transgranular fracture is responsible for the observed trends. The promotion of transgranular fracture, particularly in grain fracture sites with high orientation-dependent fracture energies, is essential for the strength enhancement. The findings can be used to identify microstructural configurations that maximize the spall strength under specific conditions. The model presented can also be used to explore microstructure design of other ceramics and ceramic composites.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18296,"journal":{"name":"Mechanics of Materials","volume":"207 ","pages":"Article 105363"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143881763","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Estimation of representative length-scales for heterogeneous brittle materials subjected to high-strain-rate loading","authors":"S. Braroo , K.T. Ramesh","doi":"10.1016/j.mechmat.2025.105337","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mechmat.2025.105337","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Continuum-scale modeling of dynamic compressive failure of brittle materials has several important applications such as the design of protective structures under impact loading. These materials can often be highly heterogeneous due to the presence of several cracks or other crack-nucleating defects. Since cracking is a dominant failure mechanism in such problems, material heterogeneity (‘microstructure’) also evolves dynamically as a large number of cracks grow in the material. This necessitates a dynamic damage modeling approach since modeling individual cracks explicitly is cost-prohibitive. When mesh-based computational techniques are utilized for such problems, often a need for fine mesh resolution arises to generate high-fidelity results. Most often mesh sensitivity studies focus on optimizing the mesh size for computational cost, and assume that the constitutive formulation itself remains scale-free. In this work, we propose a procedure to establish a ‘representative length-scale’ for dynamically loaded heterogeneous materials, above which the material can be described by an appropriate local constitutive formulation for the purpose of predicting the response during dynamic failure. Microstructural evolution due to cracking is modeled using synthetic microstructures representing the cracking process assuming a Poisson Point process of pre-existing defect centers. A modulus-increment-based criterion is proposed for representative length-scale determination where the change of material modulus as damage progresses is compared across non-local and local constitutive response. The effect of rate of loading on the predicted RL is also quantified. A demonstration of the defect point process determination procedure in the case of a specific advanced engineering ceramic, boron carbide, is also provided.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18296,"journal":{"name":"Mechanics of Materials","volume":"207 ","pages":"Article 105337"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143878644","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Deciphering grain-boundary composition-structure-mechanical property relationships via interfacial property diagrams","authors":"Shimanta Das, Chongze Hu","doi":"10.1016/j.mechmat.2025.105362","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mechmat.2025.105362","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Grain boundaries (GBs) are planar crystal defects that significantly influence many mechanical properties and deformation processes of polycrystalline materials. Understanding the interfacial structures of GBs and their relationships to mechanical properties is a central topic in materials science. However, characterizing GB structures and their properties often requires highly sophisticated and time-consuming experimental procedures, making it a grand challenge in understanding the GB composition-structure-property relationships. Using copper-silver (Cu-Ag) as a modeling system, we adopted high-throughput atomistic simulations combined with machine learning techniques to uncover the relationships between GB compositions, structures, and mechanical properties by developing GB property diagrams for four types of GBs with different symmetry. These interfacial diagrams reveal that GB local structural features, such as disordering and free volume, plays more important roles in controlling the GB mechanical properties, while Ag segregation plays a minor role. Dislocation analysis shows that nonsymmetric GBs exhibit direction-dependent deformation behaviors, where stacking faults preferentially emitted into the grains with high-index planes accompanied by dislocation nucleation. This study not only expands the existing family of GB diagrams of mechanical properties to include various GB types, but also enhances our fundamental understanding of GB deformation mechanisms.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18296,"journal":{"name":"Mechanics of Materials","volume":"207 ","pages":"Article 105362"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143878645","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}