Mechanical Metrics of Virtual Polycrystals ( MechMet )

摘要

The details of polycrystalline microstructure often influence the early stages of yielding and strain localization under monotonic and cyclic loading, particularly in elastically anisotropic materials. A new software package, MechMet (mechanical metrics) provides a convenient finite element tool for solving field equations for elasticity in polycrystals in conjunction with investigations of microstructure-induced heterogeneity. The simulated displacement field is used to compute several mechanical metrics, such as the strain and stress tensors, directional stiffness, relative Schmid factor, and the directional strength-to-stiffness ratio. The virtual polycrystal finite element meshes needed by MechMet can be created with the Neper package or any other method that produces a 10-node, tetrahedral, serendipity element. Formatted output files are automatically generated for visualization with Paraview or VisIt . This paper presents an overview of the MechMet package and its application to polycrystalline materials of both cubic and hexagonal structures.