Void growth and coalescence in ductile solids with stage III and stage IV strain hardening

State of the art ductile fracture models often rely on simple power laws to describe the strain hardening of the matrix material. Power laws do not distinguish between the two main stages of hardening observed in polycrystals, referred to as stage III and stage IV hardening, and which emerge from the evolution of the dislocation substructure. The aim of this study is to couple a physics based strain hardening law including these two stages to a micromechanics based ductile damage model. One of the main motivations is that, the stage IV constant hardening rate stage, occurring only at large strain, will be attained in most ductile failure problems if not at the overall level of deformation, at least locally around the growing voids. Furthermore, proper modelling of the stage III involving dislocation storage and recovery terms and the transition to stage IV provides a link with the underlying physical mechanisms of deformation and with the microstructure. First, in order to evaluate the effects of the stage III and stage IV hardening on void growth and coalescence, an extensive parametric study is performed on two-dimensional (2D) axisymmetric finite element (FE) unit cell calculations, using a Kocks–Mecking type hardening law. The cell calculations demonstrate that accounting for the stage IV hardening can have a profound effect on delaying void coalescence and increasing the ductility. The magnitude of the recovery term during stage III has also a significant effect on the void growth rate. Then, the Kocks–Mecking law is incorporated into the Gologanu–Leblond–Devaux (GLD) porous plasticity model supplemented by two different versions of the Thomason void coalescence criterion. The predictions of the damage model are in good agreement with the results of the FE calculations in terms of the stress–strain curves, the evolution of void shape and porosity, as well as the strain value at the onset of void coalescence.