Influence of Portevin-Le Chatelier Effect on Shear Strain Path Reversal in an Al-Mg Alloy at Room and High Temperatures

The main objective of this study is to characterize the mechanical behaviour of an Al-Mg alloy in conditions close to those encountered during sheet forming processes, i.e. with strain path changes and at strain rates and temperatures in the range 1.2×10 −3 –1.2×10 −1 s −1 and 25–200°C, respectively. The onset of jerky flow and the interaction of dynamic strain ageing with the work-hardening are investigated during reversed-loading in specific simple shear tests, which consist of loading up to various shear strain values followed by reloading in the opposite direction, combined with direct observations of the sample surface using a digital image correlation technique. Both strain path changes and temperature are clearly shown to influence the occurrence and onset of the Portevin-Le Chatelier (PLC) effect. Moreover, the Bauschinger effect observed in the material response shows that the PLC effect has a major influence on the kinematic contribution to work-hardening as well as its stagnation during the reloading stage, which could open up interesting lines of research to improve theoretical plasticity models for this family of aluminium alloys.