Damage evolution in experiments and simulation in a construction steel

Results from the modelling of the initiation and the evolution of microvoids governed by triaxiality and effective plastic strain in heterogeneous materials are presented. In particular, the damage evolution in a microalloyed thermomechanically treated steel consisting of brittle hard phases embedded in a ductile matrix is studied. Results obtained by numerical simulations using the finite element method are compared with experimental investigations of a notched cylindrical tensile bar. For this, two kinds of continuum damage models are used: the model of Rousselier, which assumes the yield stress as function of damage, and the concept of effective strains and stresses proposed by Lemaitre.