Polycrystal constraint and grain subdivision

Typically, intergranular constraint relations of various sorts are introduced to improve the accuracy of prediction of texture evolution and macroscale stress–strain behavior of metallic polycrystals within the context of simple polycrystal averaging schemes. This paper examines the capability of a 3-D polycrystal plasticity theory (Kocks, U.F., Kallend, J.S., Wank, H.-R., Rollett, A.D. and Wright, S.I. (1994), popLA, Preferred Orientation Package—Los Alamos. LANL LA-CC-89-18), based on the Taylor assumption of uniform deformation among grains, to predict texture evolution and stress–strain behavior for complex finite deformation loading paths of OFHC Cu. Compression, shear and sequences of deformation path are considered. It is shown that the evolution of texture is too rapid and that the intensity of peaks is more pronounced than for experimentally measured pole figures. Comparisons of both stress–strain behavior and texture evolution are made with experiments, with and without the inclusion of latent hardening effects. It is argued that grain subdivision processes accommodate intergranular kinematical constraints, leading to the notion of a generalized Taylor constraint that considers the distribution of subgrain orientations. The subdivision process is assumed to follow the experimentally observed refinement of low energy dislocation structures associated with geometrically necessary dislocations. A modification of the kinematical structure of crystal plasticity is proposed based on generation of geometrically necessary dislocations that accommodate a fraction of the plastic stretch and rotation at the scale of a grain.