Simulation of shear failure in dual phase steels using localization criteria and experimental observation

Failure in dual phase (DP) steels is a phenomenon that has been extensively investigated in the last decade through experimental tests and simulation methods. Experimental procedures have shown that failure has a ductile pattern and that shear failure is dominant in these materials. In this research, both experimental and numerical methods were employed to investigate shear failure in dual phase steels. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the specimens depicted the voids and shear driven voids growth in regions of localized plastic strain in the ferrite matrix. In the simulation section, mechanisms of shear failure in DP steels were simulated by a micro-structural ductile damage model. Solution and convergence of a finite element (FE) problem with irregular geometry, plasticity and ductile progressive damage was a challenging task. The criteria for shear localization were implemented in a FE model of a DP steel microstructure by ANSYS parametric design language (APDL) code to investigate pattern of shear failure. On the other hand, global stress strain behavior was investigated and compared with experimental results. It was concluded that localization criteria could reliably predict shear failure of DP steels. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.