An interactive micro-void shear localization mechanism in high strength steels

Ductility of high strength steels is often restricted by the onset of a void-sheet mechanism in which failure occurs by a micro-void shear localization process. For the first time, the micro-void shear instability mechanism is identified here by examining the interactions occurring within a system of multiple embedded secondary particles (carbides ∼10-100 nm), through a finite element based computational cell modeling technique (in two and three dimensions). Shear deformation leads to the nucleation of micro-voids as the secondary particles debond from the surrounding alloy matrix. The nucleated micro-voids grow into elongated void tails along the principal shear plane and coalesce with the micro-voids nucleated at neighboring particles. At higher strains, the neighboring particles are driven towards each other, further escalating the severity of the shear coalescence effect. This shear driven nucleation, growth and coalescence mechanism leads to a decrease in the load-bearing surface in the shear plane and a terminal shear instability occurs. The mechanism is incorporated mathematically into a hierarchical steel model. The simulated response corresponds to experimentally observed behavior only when the micro-void shear localization mechanism is considered.