On the anisotropic coalescence of elliptic cylindrical voids considering the geometric and distributive properties

Abstract

The geometric and distributive properties of voids significantly influence anisotropic coalescence behaviour. However, this problem has received little attention owing to the complexity of considering all the properties in the current analytical framework of limit analysis. To address this issue, this study proposes an analytical framework based on an elliptic coordinate system, including the determination of the ligament zone, characterization of plastic flow, and derivation of the void coalescence criterion, for porous materials with various geometric and distributive properties, including size, shape, spacing, and orientation. This framework is motivated by our observations that the evolution of the void geometry and surrounding plastic flow can be well characterized by the grid of the elliptic coordinate system. Subsequently, an analytical function is proposed to determine the ligament zone and coalescence direction with various void properties. A hollow nonaxisymmetric cylindrical unit cell is proposed to describe this ligament zone, and the corresponding trial velocity field is derived by extending the previous Gurson-like velocity field into the elliptic cylindrical coordinate system. The rationality of the field is validated by comparing its equivalent strain rate field with numerical simulations. Finally, a coalescence criterion is derived via the limit analysis of the proposed unit cell undergoing internal necking. Two heuristic adjustments are formulated for the overflow phenomenon in the rigid zone and outer ligament zones. Numerical assessments with various void properties confirm the accuracy of the analytical model. The coalescence criterion can predict the independent and coupling effects of geometric and distributive properties on anisotropic void coalescence. This study provides possible solutions to future plasticity problems of ellipsoidal inclusions.