Simulation of dislocation slip and twin propagation in Mg through coupling crystal plasticity and phase field models

TL;DR

This paper introduces a coupled crystal plasticity and phase field modeling approach to simulate dislocation slip and twin propagation in magnesium alloys, accurately predicting deformation behavior and interactions.

Contribution

It presents a novel numerical strategy combining crystal plasticity and phase field models with FFT algorithms for simulating Mg alloy deformation.

Findings

Predicted stress-strain curves match experimental data.

The model captures dominant deformation mechanisms.

Demonstrates slip-twin interactions in polycrystals.

Abstract

A numerical strategy to simulate plastic deformation in Mg alloys including dislocation slip and twin propagation is presented. Dislocation slip is included through a crystal plasticity model which is solved using the finite element method while twin propagation is taken into account by means of a phase field model which is solved using a fast Fourier transform algorithm. The coupled crystal plasticity and phase field equations were solved using different discretizations of the simulation domain using the same time step for both of them. The numerical strategy was used to simulate the deformation in compression of a Mg micro-pillar along the $[10\bar{1}0]$ direction. The stress-strain curve predicted by the model as well as the dominant deformation mechanisms were in agreement with the experimental data in the literature and demonstrate the viability of the strategy to take explicitly into account twin propagation during the simulation of plastic deformation of Mg alloys. Finally, an example of slip/twin interaction in polycrystals was simulated to show the capabilities of the model.