Dual-stage nested homogenization for rate-dependent anisotropic elasto-plasticity model of dendritic cast aluminum alloys

This paper proposes a nested dual-stage homogenization method for developing microstructure based continuum elasto-viscoplastic models for large secondary dendrite arm spacing or SDAS cast aluminum alloys. Microstructures of these alloys are characterized by extremely inhomogeneous distribution of inclusions along the dendrite cell boundaries. Traditional single-step homogenization methods are not suitable for this type of microstructure due to the size of the representative volume element (RVE) and the associated computations required for micromechanical analyses. To circumvent this limitation, two distinct RVE’s or statistically equivalent RVE’s are identified, corresponding to the inherent scales of inhomogeneity in the microstructure. The homogenization is performed in multiple stages for each of the RVE’s identified. The macroscopic behavior is described by a rate-dependent, anisotropic homogenization based continuum plasticity (HCP) model. Anisotropy and viscoplastic parameters in the HCP model are calibrated from homogenization of micro-variables for the different RVE’s. These parameters are dependent on microstructural features such as morphology and distribution of different phases. The uniqueness of the nested two-stage homogenization is that it enables evaluation of the overall homogenized model parameters of the cast alloy from limited experimental data, but also material parameters of constituents like inter-dendritic phase and pure aluminum matrix. The capabilities of the HCP model are demonstrated for a cast aluminum alloy AS7GU having a SDAS of 30 μm.