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The dominant processes in the initialization and propagation of microstructurally short cracks include microstructural features such as crystallographic orientations of grains, grain boundaries, inclusions, voids, material phases, etc. The influence of the microstructural features is expected to vanish with distance from the crack tip. Also, the influence of the nearby microstructural features is expected to be smaller for a long than for a small crack Finally, a crack of sufficient length can be modeled using classical fracture mechanic methods. In this paper the approach to estimate the crack length with vanishing influence from the microstructural feature is proposed. To achieve this, a model containing a large number of randomly sized, shaped, and oriented grains is employed. The random grain structure is modeled using a Voronoi tessellation. A series of cracks of lengths from about Ito 7 grain lengths is inserted into the model, extending from a grain at the surface toward the interior of the model. The crack tip opening displacements are estimated and statistically analyzed for a series of random crystallographic orientation sets assigned to the grains adjacent to the crack. Anisotropic elasticity and crystal plasticity constitutive models are employed at the grain size scale. It is shown that the standard deviation of the crack tip opening displacement decreases from about 20% for a short surface crack embedded within a single grain to about 7% for a surface crack extending through seven grains. From the engineering point of view, a crack extending through less than about ten grain sizes is therefore considered to strongly depend on the neighboring microstructural features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A model of microstructurally short cracks that accounts for random grain geometry and crystallographic orientations is coupled with crystal plasticity constitutive model. A short crack is then inserted in the slip plane in one of the grains at the model top boundary and extended into one of the available slip planes of the neighboring grain at monotonic remote load of 0.96R p0.2. Crack tip opening (CTOD) and sliding (CTSD) displacements are then calculated for several different crystallographic orientations and crack lengths. As the crack is contained in a single grain the crystallographic orientation of the neighboring grain can change the crack tip displacements by up to 26%, however, the displacements change by up to a factor of 10, once the crack is extended beyond the grain boundary into the next grain. Significant CTSD values were observed in all the analyzed cases pointing to mixed mode loading. Another important observation is that the random crystallographic orientations of grains beyond the first two crack-containing grains affect the CTOD by a factor of up to 4.4. This effect decreases slightly with increased crack length. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The paper presents an analysis of the effects of grain orientations on a short, kinked surface crack in a 316L stainless steel. The kinking of the crack is assumed to take place at the boundary between two neighbouring grains. The analysis is based on a plane-strain finite element crystal plasticity model. The model consists of 212 randomly shaped, sized and oriented grains, loaded monotonically in uniaxial tension to a maximum load of 0.96R p0.2 (240MPa). The influence that a random grain structure imposes on a Stage I crack is assessed by calculating the crack tip opening (CTOD) displacements for bicrystal as well as for polycrystal models, considering different crystallographic orientations. Since a Stage I crack is assumed, the crack is always placed in a slip plane. Results from a bicrystal case show that the maximal CTODs are directly related to the stiffness of the grain containing the crack extension. Anisotropic elasticity and crystal plasticity both contribute to this grain stiffness, resulting in maximal CTOD when Schmid factors are the highest on two slip planes. Such crystallographic orientation results in a soft elasto-plastic response. Anisotropic elasticity can additionally increase the softness of a grain at certain crystallographic orientations. Minimal anisotropic elasticity at the crystallographic orientations with the highest Schmid factors causes the CTOD to be maximized. Presuming that the crack will preferably follow the slip plane where the crack tip opening displacement is highest, we show that the crystallographic orientation can affect the CTOD values by a factor of up to 7.7. For a given grain orientation the maximum CTOD is attained when the crack extension deflection into a second grain is between −75.141° and 34°. For the polycrystal case we show that grains beyond the first two crack-containing grains change the CTOD by a factor of up to 3.3 and that the largest CTODs are obtained when placing the crack into a slip plane with crack extension that results in a crack extension being more perpendicular to the external load. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper deals with the correlation length estimated from a mesoscopic model of a polycrystalline material. The correlation length can be used in some macroscopic material models as a material parameter that describes the internal length. It can be estimated directly from the strain and stress fields calculated from a finite-element model, which explicitly accounts for the selected mesoscopic features such as the random orientation, shape and size of the grains. A crystal plasticity material model was applied in the finite-element analysis.Different correlation lengths were obtained depending on whether the strain or the stress field was used. The correlation lengths also changed with the macroscopic load. If the load is below the yield strength the correlation lengths are constant, and are of the order of the average grain size. The correlation length can therefore be considered as an indicator of first plastic deformations in the material. Increasing the load above the yield strength creates shear bands that temporarily increase the values of the correlation lengths calculated from the strain fields. With a further load increase the correlation lengths decrease slightly below the average grain size. If displacement boundary conditions are used, the correlation length calculated from strain field is lower then the one calculated from the stress field. The opposite is true, if stress boundary conditions are applied. However, with the exception of the load region where significant shear bands appear, both seem to follow similar qualitative rules. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]