Coupling Computational Homogenization with Crystal Plasticity Modelling for Predicting the Warm Deformation Behaviour of AA2060-T8 Al-Li Alloy

This study aimed to propose a new approach for predicting the warm deformation behaviour of AA2060-T8 sheets by coupling computational homogenization (CH) with crystal plasticity (CP) modeling. Firstly, to reveal the warm deformation behaviour of the AA2060-T8 sheet, isothermal warm tensile testing was accomplished using a Gleeble-3800 thermomechanical simulator at the temperatures and strain rates that varied from 373 to 573 K and 0.001 to 0.1 s−1. Then, a novel crystal plasticity model was proposed for describing the grains’ behaviour and reflecting the crystals’ actual deformation mechanism under warm forming conditions. Afterward, to clarify the in-grain deformation and link the mechanical behaviour of AA2060-T8 with its microstructural state, RVE elements were created to represent the microstructure of AA2060-T8, where several finite elements discretized every grain. A remarkable accordance was observed between the predicted results and their experimental counterparts for all testing conditions. This signifies that coupling CH with CP modelling can successfully determine the warm deformation behaviour of AA2060-T8 (polycrystalline metals) under different working conditions.