Dual-time scale crystal plasticity FE model for cyclic deformation of Ti alloys

A dual-time scale finite element model is developed in this paper for simulating cyclic deformation in a Titanium alloy Ti-6242. The material is characterized by crystal plasticity constitutive relations. Modeling cyclic deformation using conventional time integration algorithms in a single time scale can be prohibitive for crystal plasticity computations. Typically 3D crystal plasticity based fatigue simulations found in the literature are in the range of 100 cycles. Results are subsequently extrapolated to thousands of cycles, which can lead to considerable error in fatigue predictions. However, the dual-time scale model enables simulations up to a significantly high number of cycles to reach local states of damage initiation leading to fatigue crack growth. This formulation decomposes the governing equations into two sets of problems, corresponding to a coarse time scale (low frequency) cycle-averaged problem and a fine time scale (high frequency) oscillatory problem. A statistically equivalent 3D polycrystalline model of Ti-6242 is simulated by the crystal plasticity finite element model to study the evolution of local stresses and strains in the microstructure with cyclic loading. The comparison with the single time scale reference solution shows excellent accuracy while the efficiency gained through time-scale compression can be enormous.