Plastic flow behavior based on thermal activation and dynamic constitutive equation of 25CrMo4 steel during impact compression

To evaluate the dynamic mechanical properties of 25CrMo4 steel, the stress-strain curve of 25CrMo4 steel have been obtained by performing quasi-static and impact compression experiments at strain rates ranging from 0.001 s−1 to 4163 s−1. The 25CrMo4 steel displays an obvious strain rate effect and its hardening rate changes with the strain and strain rate. It even shows softening effect at high strain rates. Further, the grains of 25CrMo4 steel show features of both body-centered cubic (BCC) and face-centered cubic (FCC) structures and are severely stretched and fragmented during impact loading, as evidenced by microscopic observations. Based on these two points, the Zerilli-Armstrong (ZA) constitutive equations have been improved reasonably. These can provide the mechanical properties of 25CrMo4 steel during impact compression loading, which can in turn be used as reference values for practical engineering analysis.