Measurement and prediction of residual stresses and crystallographic texture development in rolled Zircaloy-4 plates: X-ray diffraction and the self-consistent model

Complementary methods were used to analyse residual stresses and texture evolution in Zircaloy-4 sheets which had undergone cold-rolling deformation: X-ray diffraction and the self-consistent model. A modified elastoplastic self-consistent model, adapted to large deformation, was used to simulate the experimental results and showed close agreement with the experimental data. A new formulation of crystal plasticity is proposed. The influence and the role of elastoplastic anisotropy were also studied and explained in this work. Good agreement was found between experimental and predicted crystallographic textures. The contribution and the magnitude of the first- and second-order residual stresses were correctly evaluated using information from the model. Comparison between the X-ray diffraction results and the simulations confirms that prismatic slip is the main active deformation mode in this alloy under large strain.