Full-range stress–strain relationship and fracture model for laser cladding additively manufactured 316L stainless steel sheets

Laser cladding (LC) is being used increasingly in civil engineering owing to its high efficiency and minimal distortion since requiring little heat input; especially for repairing or strengthening damaged metal structures. LC stainless steel sheets are characterised by a rounded stress–strain response, with two “knee” regions and no sharply defined yield point. Such behaviour cannot be accurately represented by using previous stress–strain models. Moreover, determining the true stress–strain curve and toughness coefficient for the fracture model is essential to carry out a non-linear finite element analysis for solving elastoplastic problems. In the present study, one simplified full-range engineering stress–strain model for LC 316L stainless steel sheets is proposed based on the three-stage Hradil model and is validated against the experimental results of thirty tensile coupon tests. The proposed model redefines the second and third stages of the stress–strain curve following the experimental observations. All parameters in this simplified model can be derived directly from only four basic material property parameters: the initial elastic modulus, 0.2 % proof stress, ultimate stress and the strain corresponding to the ultimate stress. For defining the fracture model of LC stainless steel sheets, an average weight method is employed to determine the post-necking true stress–strain curves. The recommended values of the weight factor and toughness coefficient for the LC sheets are also obtained based on the available tensile coupon test results. The comparisons between the experimental force–displacement curves of the tensile coupons and the finite element analysis results using the proposed stress–strain relationship and fracture model for the LC sheets shows both results to be in good agreement. Therefore, the stress–strain relationship and fracture model proposed in this paper is suitable for use in the analytical and numerical modelling of structures having LC 316L stainless steel sheets.