Plane strain tension of thermo-elasto-viscoplastic blocks

The thermocoupled flow localization of plane strain tension blocks has been investigated. These blocks have a relatively low strain rate sensitivity and comply with an elasto-viscoplastic constitutive equation which has a viscoplastic strain rate noncoaxial with the stress tensor. Attention has been paid to deformations with a strain rate in the range of 0.02–2000/s under isothermal, conductive and adiabatic conditions. A full plane strain finite element analysis of the velocity and temperature fields has partially clarified the effects of the deformation rate, material strain rate sensitivity, thermal conductivity and size of the blocks on flow localization, including the shear band type of flow localization.