Deformation of sandwich sheet materials in uniaxial tension

Abstract

The stable and unstable plastic flow of stainless steel-clad aluminum and aluminum-clad stainless steel sandwich sheet materials deformed in uniaxial tension have been investigated. For the clad sheet materials studied experimentally, stable deformations were uniform in the component layers, and the assumption of isostrain was used in modeling the deformation behavior. The rule of mixtures, an average of component properties weighted by cross-sectional area fractions, was applied to determine sandwich uniaxial true stress-true strain curves from those of the components. In addition, measurements of residual stress distributions in deformed tensile specimens gave insight into states of stress during loading. A model to determine the magnitude of stresses which are generated by component normal plastic anisotropy differences was developed as well. With this knowledge of the stress state, predictions of uniform elongation of the clad sheet materials were made which compared favorably to experimental measurements. As for ductile monolithic sheet materials, stable flow of sandwich sheet materials in tension was limited by diffuse necking, which leads to local instability at higher strains. This local instability gives rise to a through-thickness localized thinning which terminates macroscopic deformation. Conditions for local instability in uniaxial tension have been developed for sandwich as well as monolithic sheet materials. Predictions from these models are in agreement with measurements.