Materials Letters 57 (2003) 3206 3210

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Finite element simulation on the propagation of Lu ders band
and effect of stress concentration

H.B. Sun
a,
*
, F. Yoshida
a
, X. Ma
a
, T. Kamei
a
, M. Ohmori
b


a
Department of Mechanical System Engineering, Hiroshima University, 1-4-1, Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8527, Japan
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hiroshima Kokusai Gakuin University, 6-20-1, Nakano, Aki-Ku, Hiroshima 739-0321, Japan

Received 6 November 2002; received in revised form 27 December 2002; accepted 28 December 2002



Abstract

Finite element method (FEM), using a viscoplastic constitutive model proposed by Yoshida [Int. J. Plasticity 16 (2000) 359],
has been applied to simulate the propagation of Lu ders band for an annealed low-carbon steel strip under uniaxial tension test.
By reducing the thickness of corresponding element, additional stress concentration is introduced into the FEM model.
Calculated results show that the formation and propagation of Lu ders band are affected by the level of stress concentration
existing at the ends of the specimen.
D 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Lu ders band propagation; Stress concentration; Finite element method; Viscoplastic constitutive model; Yield phenomenon



1. Introduction

Under uniaxial tension, annealed low-carbon steels
exhibit an upper yield point and subsequent yield
plateau in the stress strain curve. At the upper yield
point, Lu ders band appears, subsequently, the load
drops to the lower yield point, and the Lu ders band
then propagates along the specimen, which causes the
yield plateau. After whole gauge length of specimen is
covered by Lu ders band, the flow stress will increase
with the plastic deformation.
Numerous investigations have been performed on
the yield point phenomenon [1,2]. From the observa-
tions of experiments, it is well known that stress



* Corresponding author. Tel.: +81-824-22-9419; fax: +81-824-
22-9419.
E-mail address: hbsun@hiroshima-u.ac.jp (H.B. Sun).
concentration has strong influence on the Lu ders band
[3]. Recently, a viscoplastic constitutive model, which
can accurately describe the yield point phenomenon
and the corresponding cyclic plasticity behavior has
been proposed by Yoshida [4]. It is based on the
Johnston and Gilmans [5] theory, that is, the abrupt
yield drop could be attributed to the rapid dislocation
multiplication.
In the present work, finite element numerical
simulation of the Lu ders band propagation was
performed by using Yoshidas model. Meanwhile,
the effect of stress concentration has been investi-
gated.


2. Experimental observations

Low-carbon (0.07%) steel strip specimens, as
shown in Fig. 1, were used for uniaxial tension test.

0167-577X/03/$ - see front matter D 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0167-577X(03)00036-3
H.B. Sun et al. / Materials Letters 57 (2003) 32063210 3207
a volume fraction f
m
of the total dislocation density Fig. 1. Shape of the specimen.



The specimens were initially annealed at 973 K for
an hour in a vacuum furnace and then furnace-
cooled to room temperature, thus, an average grain
size 11.5 Am was obtained. In order to observe the
propagation of Lu ders band, one side surface of the
annealed specimens was polished before they were
tested. A servo-controlled testing machine was used
to conduct the uniaxial tension test with a constant
crosshead speed of 0.05 mm/s. Load and crosshead
displacement were recorded by test machine auto-
matically. Displacement in gauge length was calcu-
lated assuming that it was proportional to the
crosshead displacement. Pictures of formation and
propagation of the Lu ders band were taken by a
digital camera.
Two typical records of the formation and prop-
agation of Lu ders bands on the surface of the
specimens were shown in Fig. 2(a) and (b), respec-
tively. In the case shown in Fig. 2(a), a single Lu ders
band initiated from one shoulder of specimen where
stress concentration existed and then propagated
toward the other side until entire gauge length was
covered by Lu ders band. Double Lu ders bands
occurred in the case shown in Fig.2(b). The initiation
of the first one was similar to what shown in Fig.
2(a), while during its propagation, the second one
formed at the other shoulder of the specimen and
propagated until two Lu ders bands met. It should be
noted that there was no difference in experimental
condition between the above two cases, except for
fixing forces of the chucks acting on the two ends of
the specimens, which would differ in each of experi-
ments since such work was done by hand. Further-
more, there might be some effects due to geometrical
imperfections of the specimen, e.g., inaccuracy of the

































Fig. 2. Experimental records of the propagation of Lu ders bands: (a)
a single band; (b) double bands.



shoulder shape, surface roughness, thickness imper-
fection, etc.


3. Finite element model

The finite element model used for numerical
simulation is shown in Fig. 3. The mesh is made
of four-node plane stress elements with a total of
610 elements and 682 nodes. The specimen was
pulled along the vertical axis at a constant speed of
0.05 mm/s, while the foot is fixed in the vertical
direction.
Yoshidas model [4] is used to describe the
viscoplastic behavior of material. In the model,
the mobile dislocation density q
m
is expressed as
3208 H.B. Sun et al. / Materials Letters 57 (2003) 32063210
cation density q
m
, the viscoplastic constitutive model tration (0.5% reduction of the thickness of corresponding element).





Fig. 3. Finite element model.

is established based upon the well-known relationship
between the shear plastic strain rate c
p
and the
dislocation velocity r which is a function of applied
stress:

c
p
bq
m
m 3

where b is the Burgers vector.

q
t
, which is defined by Hahns empirical equation
[6]:

q
m
f
m
q
t
f
m
q
0
Ce
a
1

where q
0
is the initial dislocation density, e is
effective plastic strain, C and a are material con-
stants.
To describe the rapid dislocation multiplication
with increasing plastic strain e, based on Yoshidas
proposition [4], the volume fraction f
m
is given by:

f
m
f
m0
f
ma
f
m0
f1 expkeg 2

where k is a material constant, f
m0
is the initial value
which should be close to zero since most of the
dislocations are locked in a fully annealed steel, f
ma
is the asymptotic limit. In this calculation, material
parameters were given as C = 3 10
8
cm
2
; a = 1;
q
0
= 10
6
cm
2
; f
ma
= 0.1 and k = 10. Especially, very
small value of f
m0
=(10
7
) leads to the simulation of
higher yield point and the abrupt yield drop followed
by the yield plateau.
Using the above expression for the mobile dislo-
























Fig. 4. FE simulation results of formation and propagation of Lu ders
band: (a) without additional stress concentration; (b) with slighter
additional stress concentration (0.125% reduction of the thickness
of corresponding element); (c) with more serious stress concen-
H.B. Sun et al. / Materials Letters 57 (2003) 32063210 3209


4. FEM simulation results and discussions

4.1. Without additional stress concentration

Fig. 4(a) shows the FEM simulation results for the
formation and propagation of Lu ders bands in the
mild steel strip. The white regions with the highest
level of plastic strain represent the localized plastic
deformation due to the propagation of Lu ders band.
Two Lu ders bands initiate from the shoulder corners
at the same time since it was expected that there
should be the same highest level of stress concen-
tration there. The two Lu ders bands propagate con-
versely along the strip until they meet with each other.
Such a result indicates that the above experimental
observation, a single Lu ders band or asymmetrical
double bands, as seen in Fig. 2(a) and (b), should be
attributed to the additional stress concentration intro-
duced by the fixing forces of the chucks acting on two
ends of the specimen, as well as some geometrical
imperfections of the specimen. Therefore hereafter,
we try to use some reasonable method to introduce
such additional stress concentration into the FE model
in order to further understand its effect.





Fig. 5. Plastic strain contour in FE simulation.
















Fig. 6. Stress vs. strain curves for the case of single Lu ders band: (a)
experimental result; (b) FEM simulation result.


4.2. With additional stress concentration

In the above case, all of the elements in the FE
model have the same thickness of 2 mm. Here, in
order to simulate the asymmetrical stress concentra-
tion, additional stress concentration is introduced into
one shoulder corner of the specimen by reasonably
3210 H.B. Sun et al. / Materials Letters 57 (2003) 32063210


reducing the thickness of one element there (also see
Fig. 3). Obviously, a larger reduction of the thickness
will lead to a larger additional stress concentration.
Fig. 4(b) and (c) shows the simulation results for the
cases that the thickness of the corresponding element
is 0.125% and 0.5% reduced, respectively. In both the
cases, the Lu ders band initiates from the shoulder with
the higher stress concentration, i.e., from the place
where thickness of element is reduced. For the case of
introducing a slighter additional stress concentration
(0.125% reduction of element thickness) as shown in
Fig. 4(b), although double Lu ders bands still occur,
the second one initiates after the first one propagates
for some distance, not at the same time as shown in
Fig. 4(a). When the additional stress concentration
further increases, as shown in Fig. 4(c) with 0.5%
reduction of the thickness, only a single Lu ders band
occurs and it propagates through the whole strip. Such
simulation results indicate that appearance and occur-
ring number of Lu ders band are influenced by the
level of stress concentration existing at the ends of the
specimen. In the simulation results, it looks that the
Lu ders band front is perpendicular to the specimen
axis, while experimental results show it inclines at
45j. However, if we look at the plastic strain contour
(in Fig. 5), at a relatively small plastic strain (e.g.,
e
p
= 0.01), it also shows the band-front inclination
even though the contour lines are almost symmetrical.
The experimentally observed band front would corre-
spond to such a small-scale yielding zone. Finally, for
the case of single Lu ders band, the corresponding
stress strain curves obtained from uniaxial tension
test and FEM simulation result are given in Fig. 6.
With referring to Figs. 2(a) and 4(c), it can be seen
that the Lu ders band initiates at the upper yield point.
The propagation of the Lu ders band leads to the
following yield plateau until it covers the whole strip.
Afterwards, homogeneous deformation begins and the
material hardens naturally. The good agreement
between the experimental result and FEM simulation
result demonstrates the validity of using the visco-
plastic constitutive model.


5. Summary

The propagation of Lu ders band in a mild steel
strip was simulated by means of the finite element
method (FEM) using a viscoplastic constitutive model
proposed by Yoshida [4]. It was found that under the
ideal condition, double Lu ders bands would synchro-
nously initiate from both ends of the specimen and
then propagated until they meet with each other. This
phenomenon rarely happened in the real uniaxial
tension test since it was inevitable that the fixing
force acting on the two ends of specimen, as well as
some geometrical imperfections of specimens, would
introduce a certain level of additional stress concen-
tration. Such a situation was further investigated
through introducing additional stress concentration
into the finite element model by reasonably reducing
the thickness of corresponding element. Simulation
results showed that if there was a certain level of
difference of stress concentration between the two
ends of the specimen, only a single Lu ders band
formed and propagated through the whole strip. Oth-
erwise, double Lu ders bands occurred but the prop-
agation pattern was asymmetrical.


References

[1] E.O. Hall, Yield Point Phenomena in Metals and Alloys, Ple-
num, New York, 1970.
[2] J.G. Docherty, F.W. Thorne, Engineering 132 (1931) 295.
[3] W. Sylwestrowicz, E.O. Hall, Proc. Phys. Soc. 64B (1951) 495.
[4] F. Yoshida, Int. J. Plast. 16 (2000) 359.
[5] W.G. Johnston, J.J. Gilman, J. Appl. Phys. 30 (1959) 129.
[6] G.T. Hahn, Acta Metall. 10 (1962) 727.