On the Modeling of plastic deformation of magnesium alloys

Magnesium alloys are promising materials due to their low density and therefore high specific strength. However, the industrial application is not well established so far, especially for wrought products such as sheets or profiles. Due to its hexagonal crystallographic structure, deformation mechanisms observed in magnesium alloys are rather different from those in face centered cubic metals such as aluminum alloys. This leads not only to a mechanical anisotropy, but also to a tension-compression asymmetry, i.e. unequal compressive and tensile yield strength. The resulting complexity in the yielding behavior of such materials cannot be captured by conventional models of J(2) plasticity. Cazacu and Barlat, therefore, proposed a phenomenological yield potential which accounts for the respective phenomena by introducing the third invariant of the stress tensor. Simulations based on this model are performed with ABAQUS/Explicit and a user defined routine VUMAT for validating the respective implementation. The application aims at simulating the extrusion process of magnesium alloys.