Acta Materialia 52 (2004) 46394650

www.actamat-journals.com

Anisotropic ductile fracture

Part II: theory
A.A. Benzerga
a

a,*

, J. Besson b, A. Pineau

Department of Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M University, 3141 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-3141, USA
b
Ecole des Mines de Paris, Centre des Mat
eriaux, UMR CNRS 7633, BP 87, F91003 Evry Cedex, France
Received 18 December 2003; received in revised form 8 June 2004; accepted 11 June 2004
Available online 15 July 2004

Abstract
A theory of anisotropic ductile fracture is outlined and applied to predict failure in a low alloy steel. The theory accounts for
initial anisotropy and microstructure evolution (plastic anisotropy, porosity, void shape, orientation and spacing) and is supplemented by a recent micromechanical model of void-coalescence. A rate-dependent version of the theory is employed to solve
boundary value problems. The application to the studied steel relies on material parameters inferred from quantitative metallography measurements. The quantitative prediction of damage accumulation and crack initiation in notched bars is achieved without
any adjustable factor and is discussed under various stress states and loading orientations.
2004 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Alloys; Anisotropic plasticity; Fracture; Void coalescence; Micromechanics

1. Introduction
In this article we address the issue of the quantitative
prediction of ductile fracture. To that end, an anisotropic theory is presented, which is based on the mechanics of porous plastic materials. The theory is
applied to model the anisotropic failure of a low alloy
medium strength steel characterized in Part I of this
work [1]. The aim of the prediction is precisely to be
quantitative, that is matching experiments without tting
parameters.
So far, modeling based on micromechanics has essentially involved isotropic models [2,3] and has been
successful to some extent [49]. While many of the
qualitative aspects of ductile fracture have been explained by isotropic approaches, quantitative predictions are still a challenge. The isotropic model, e.g. [3],
accounts for pressure-sensitivity through a mechanism
of dilational plasticity, which is (i) homogeneous in the
*

Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-979-845-1602; fax: +1-979-8456051.

E-mail address: benzerga@aero.tamu.edu (A.A. Benzerga).

elementary volume and (ii) neglects microstructure

evolution, namely plastic anisotropy and void shape. It
is now established that a competing localized dilational
mechanism of plasticity, associated with void coalescence, needs to be accounted for; see [1013]. It is also
established that the concept of pressure-sensitivity needs
renement through the incorporation of void shape effects [1417]. Earlier attempts to incorporate void shape
eects in micromechanical models, e.g. [18], were of an
empirical character and, as noted by their authors, were
restrictive.
A theory that incorporates the void shape eect is
necessarily anisotropic. But anisotropy in ductile materials enters in many ways. In initially isotropic materials,
it enters through the deformation-induced evolution of
microstructural features, which can be individual (grain
shape, pore shape and size) or collective (texture and
spatial distribution of pores). But, of course, any of
these features can be initially anisotropic as a result of
the metal-working or pre-deformation history so that
directionality arises in most mechanical properties of the
material. Modeling fracture anisotropy is largely unexplored. Yet both toughness and ductility of many

1359-6454/$30.00 2004 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.actamat.2004.06.019

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A.A. Benzerga et al. / Acta Materialia 52 (2004) 46394650

structural alloys depend on the loading orientation (for

steel see [1] and references therein; for aluminum and
titanium alloys see [19,20]).
Anisotropy of fracture properties in ductile materials
is usually attributed to the shape of second-phase
particles or inclusions such as manganese sulde in
steel. This eect was analyzed in [16] using a model for
porous materials incorporating void shape eects [15].
Anisotropy in materials with only equiaxed particles
[21] suggests, however, that the particle spatial distribution and/or materials texture may also be of signicance. These two eects were theoretically
investigated in [17] and [22,23], respectively. It was
conrmed that any anisotropy in void distribution has
an inuence on void coalescence, not on void growth,
with a possible net eect on fracture toughness [17].
Also, in [23] it was found that the eect of plastic
anisotropy can explain the dierence in ductility between steel and aluminum alloys when other known
eects are kept the same.
Therefore, a complete theory of ductile fracture
should take account of all the material aspects listed
above: inclusion and void shape, void distribution anisotropy and plastic anisotropy as a macroscopic eect
of material texture or grain elongation. So far each aspect was analyzed separately [16,17,23]. Here the three
features are assembled in a general approach based on
the two-mechanism plasticity model [11,12] with an explicit illustration of how the approach can be implemented and assessed against experiments.

2. Formulation of the theory

The weak form of the principal of virtual work is
written as
Z
Z
Z
S : dE dV
T  du dS f  du dV ;
1
V

with

1
T
F FI ;
2









2



is the symmetric second PiolaKircho stress
where S


tensor, E
is the GreenLagrange strain, F
is the defor



mation gradient, R
is
Cauchy
stress,
J

detF
, T and f




are, respectively, the surface tractions and body forces if
any, u is the displacement vector and V and S are the
volume and surface of the body in the reference conguration. An updated Lagrangian formulation is used
[24] which employs objective space frames with the reference conguration being either chosen at the beginning of the increment or at the end of the increment.
Unless otherwise stated, the latter option has been
adopted in most solutions here so that the stress measure S
reduces to the Cauchy stress.


S J F1  R  FT ;

The constitutive framework is that of a progressively

cavitating anisotropic viscoplastic solid initiated in
previous studies [16,17]. The formulation was detailed in
[25] but for completeness it is outlined here. In the objective (polar or co-rotational) frame, the strain rate
e
, and a
tensor is written as the sum of an elastic part, D


p
viscoplastic part, D
.
Assuming
small
elastic
strains
and


isotropic elasticity, a hypo-elastic law is expressed using
the rotated stress P


De C1 : P_ ;

P J XT  R  X;

where C is the rotated tensor of elastic moduli. If the co

rotational frame is used then the rotation tensor X
is


identied with the spin Q (skew-symmetric part of the


velocity gradient) so that Jaumann rate of R
is used. If


the polar frame is used then X
is
identied
with the


rotation R
resulting
from
the
polar
decomposition
of the


deformation gradient F
and
the
GreenNaghdi
rate
of R




p
is used. The viscoplastic part of the strain rate, D
, is


obtained by normality from the gauge function:
p;
/ rH  r

 is the matrix yield stress, p the eective plastic

where r
strain and rH is an eective matrix stress which is implicitly dened through an equation of the type
FR
; f ; S; ez ; H; rH 0 with f the porosity, S the shape



parameter (logarithm of the void aspect ratio W ), ez the
void axis and H Hills fourth-rank tensor. The potential

F admits two dierent expressions, Fc and Fc ,
prior to and after coalescence, respectively. The ow
potential prior to coalescence is given by [15,25]
!
3R0 : H : R0
:R
jA









c
F R; f ; S; H; rH
2qw f cosh



h rH
2r2H
 1  q2w f 2 0;

where refers to the deviator, h is a factor calculated

using Hill coecients, expressed in the basis
e eL ; eT ; eS pointing onto the principal directions of
orthotropy [22,23], as


1=2
2
hL hT hS
1 1
1
1
h

5 hL hT hT hS hS hL 5 hTS hLS hLT

7
is the void anisotropy tensor expressed in the
and A


basis e0  ex ; ey ; ez associated with the void
A a2 ex  ex ey  ey 1  2a2 ez  ez ;

with a2 in (8) and j in (6) being scalar functions of both

f and S (Table 1). The coecient qw is void-shape dependent and was determined by Gologanu [15] to t
unit-cell results:
qw 1 q  1= cosh S;

A.A. Benzerga et al. / Acta Materialia 52 (2004) 46394650

Table 1
Coecients used in Eqs. (6), (8) and (18), analytical expressions and
particular values
Coecient

eS
Ef ; S
jf ; S
a2 f ; S
a1 S
aG
1 S

Prolate cavity (S P 0)

p
1  exp2S
E3
e3
f
1  E2
1  e2

1
1
1
p
e
p
3  2 ln
E
3 ln f
1 E2
3 E4
1
1  e2

tanh1 e
2
2e
2e3
1
3  e2

Limit cases
Sphere
(S  0)

Cylinder
(S ! 1)

3
2

p
3

1
3
1
3
1
3

1
2
1
2
1
2

For an arbitrary void shape (spheroid, cone, . . .), v is

exactly related to the void spacing ratio, k, through a
shape factor c as (see Fig. 1)
(

1=3
EZ ez ;
3c Wf k
12
v
f
1=3
k
EZ ? ez :
W 3c W k
In [11] k 1=3 was used but renements based on unitcell calculations suggested that k 1 is more accurate.
For an arbitrary loading orientation v admits a more
complex expression but k is always dened as the ratio
of the Z-spacing to the average radial spacing. The
function cv was introduced in [12] to represent the
actual non-spheroidal void shapes observed during coalescence (see e.g. Fig. 9(b) in [1]), with

c
v<v;
c cc cf cc v  v v P vc :
13
c

where q 1:6 is the value taken by qw for a spherical

void. In general, the hI coecients in (7) are taken to be
function of the eective plastic strain p.
The ow potential after the onset of coalescence is
given by [11,12]:


q


3=2R0 : H : R0
I
:
R

1







c
F R; v; S; H; rH


2 rH
rH
3
 1  v2 Cf v; S 6 0;
10
2
where v is the ligament size ratio dened in the loading
frame E EX ; EY ; EZ (see Fig. 1) and Cf is given by

2
p
v1  1
1:3 v1 ;
Cf v; S 0:1
2
1
2
W 0:1v 0:02v
W eS :

4641

11

1vc

The constants cc 1=2 and cf correspond to the shapes

at incipient coalescence (spheroid) and at complete coalescence (often a cone so that cf 1), respectively. As
v ! 1 the material loses all stress carrying capacity. vc is
the value of the ligament size ratio at the onset of coalescence, which occurs when Fc Fc 0. vc is not
an adjustable factor.
Both forms (6) and (10) of the plastic potential F
H
dene rH with the remarkable property or
:R
rH so
oR




that, assuming equality of macroscopic plastic work rate
and matrix dissipation, the viscoplastic strain rate is
written as

1
oF
oF
p
D 1  f p_
:
14


orH
oR

The strain rate eect is accounted for through a Norton

law for the eective plastic strain p
!m

rH  r
p_
15
K
with the uniaxial stressstrain relation having the form




p
p=
1
p rL 1 Q 1  e
r
;
16

0

Fig. 1. Representative volume element of a transversely isotropic material subject to a loading with a major normal stress along Z. (a) Loading
parallel to the voids EZ kez . (b) Loading perpendicular to the voids
EZ ? ez . Bottom views are in the plane of coalescence normal to EZ .

where K and m are material dependent constants, rL is

the longitudinal yield stress and Q,
0 and
1 are material
constants. In the limit of a rate independent material
, F 6 0 denes a
with rH replaced everywhere by r
convex yield domain. Examples of the yield surfaces
dened by (6) and (10) are shown in Fig. 2 assuming
plastic isotropy (H I ) for a particular axisymmetric


loading path.
The evolution laws of the microstructural variables
prior to coalescence are given by
f_ 1  f I : Dp ;

17

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A.A. Benzerga et al. / Acta Materialia 52 (2004) 46394650

Fig. 2. Yield surfaces for axisymmetric loadings resulting from the intersection of the yield domains dened by (6) and (10) in the rate-independent limit:    initial surface corresponding to f 0:00075 and
W 15; (
) at the onset of coalescence with f 0:04, W 5 and
v 0:34; ( ) during coalescence with f 0:15, W 2:2 and v 0:75.




2
4
G
p
_S 3 1 9  T T 1  f 2 a1  a1 D0p
zz
2
2
2
1  3a1


1  3a1

18
3a2  1 I : Dp ;



f
where the term between  in (18) is the result of ts to
unit-cell calculations, T is the stress triaxiality ratio (i.e.
ratio of the hydrostatic stress, 1=3I
: R
, to the mises


eective stress) and a1 and aG
are
given
in
Table 1.
1
After the onset of coalescence the relevant variables
are k, v and W ; their rates are given by [12]
3 0
k_ kDzzp ;
19
2
which holds regardless of the spatial distribution of
voids,


3 k 3c
v
0
20
 1 Dzzp c_ ;
v_
4 W v2
2c
which results from plastic incompressibility of the matrix material, and


9k
c
W
0
_
W
1  2 Dzzp  c_ :
21
4v
v
2c
Assuming that voids rotate with the material, the
evolution of void orientation is given by
_  X T  ez ;
e_ z X

22

where X
is the rotation used in (4) so that (22) follows


from the objective frame description. If the co-rotational
_  XT is simply the spin W. In
space frame is used then X






this case the rotation is determined by integration of
_ W  Q with the initial condition Q I . ExperiQ









t 0
mental evidence supports the general form (22) if the
loading axes E are initially aligned with the void axes

e0  as in Fig. 1; otherwise (22) is not valid because the

void spin is then dierent from the material spin as evidenced through careful experimentation [11].
The formulation above has been implemented in the
nite element code ZeBuLoN, which is designed as in
[26] so that the constitutive behavior is, to a large extent,
independent from equilibrium and kinematics thanks to
the use of objective space frames. This enabled us to test
dierent options. For instance, formulations with the
GreenNaghdi and Jaumann rates of Cauchy stress
were employed, each involving a dierent specialization
of the rotation rate in (22). In the case where the load
axis is initially parallel to a principal orientation (here L
or T), the dierence was found to be negligible. Thus,
the calculations analyzed here were carried out using the
Jaumann rate. A fully implicit time integration procedure was used for the local behavior in conjunction with
an iterative NewtonRaphson method. The consistent
tangent matrix was computed as detailed in [25].

3. Predictive modeling of fracture

We now illustrate how an approach based on the
constitutive modeling of Section 2 can be implemented
to predict fracture anisotropy in round notched steel
bars. The three directions of orthotropy L, T and S
correspond to the rolling, transverse and short transverse orientations, respectively. The reader is referred to
[1] for the experimental counterpart. Assessment against
experiments is carried over global (force, strain to failure) as well as local (porosity at incipient coalescence)
quantities.
3.1. Finite element model and input parameters
3D calculations were carried out using geometries
corresponding to the three tested notched bars. For
brevity most results are shown for bars with a shallow
notch (f 10) or bars with a sharp notch (f 2). As in
[1] the parameter f refers to ten times the ratio of notch
radius to the minimal section diameter U0 . The meshes
used have 20-node quadratic sub-integrated quadrilaterals. Flat elements are used in the minimal section
which have dimensions 325  325  100 lm3 . The initial
height of 100 lm is low enough to avoid numerical errors associated with the presence of overly elongated
elements at the onset of fracture due to the large deformations involved. The mesh is designed symmetrically with respect to the two principal directions of any
cross-section. Because the analyses are restricted to
loadings along principal axes, only one eighth of a bar is
meshed. The boundary conditions are specied as follows. Lateral surfaces are free of normal tractions and
symmetry conditions are enforced. A uniform displacement U is prescribed on the top surface.

A.A. Benzerga et al. / Acta Materialia 52 (2004) 46394650

4643

second by transforming each MnS plate-like particle

into an equivalent spheroid with axis ez eL (Fig. 3(c)).
This is in keeping with the observation in [1] that the
initially 3D voids evolve rapidly into spheroids as the
void growth rate is much larger in the short transverse
direction (see Figs. 8 and 13 in [1]).
The values used for the elastic properties are
E 210 GPa and m 0:3. Also, the coecients in (16)
are calculated as rL 426 MPa,
0 1:78, Q 0:38
and
1 0:06. These values are the outcome of a standard optimization procedure that provides the best t to
the experimental uniaxial stressstrain curve obtained in
tension along the L axis. Consistently, Hill coecients in
(7) and (6) are given in terms of the ratios hI =hL , which
were previously determined using tension and compression tests [25] as 0.917, 1.333, 1.354, 1.200 and 1.135
for I T, S, TS, SL and LT, respectively. Coecient hL
is determined by the requirement that the equivalent
strain rate be equal to the logarithmic strain rate in
tension along L. For details on the identication procedure see [23]. To focus the analysis on the low strainrate regime of the experiments, the parameters K and m
in (15) were given the values 1 MPa and 5, respectively,
so that strain-rate sensitivity is negligible in all

The initial porosity is identied with the particle

volume fraction. This follows from the fact that void
nucleation is complete at strains that are low in comparison with strains at incipient coalescence [1,11,27].
The focus here is on loadings along the transverse, T, or
rolling, L, orientations so that EZ eT (T-loading) or
EZ eL (L-loading), respectively. In all cases the common axis of the elongated voids is ez  eL .
The model presented in Section 2 is transversely isotropic in the absence of plastic anisotropy, but the real
microstructure is 3D. Each population of particles is
characterized by seven average parameters: volume
fraction, fv , aspect ratios, W I , and spacing ratios, kI ; see
Table 2 where the data of [1] is recollected. Hence an
approximation is made whereby an equivalent initial
microstructure is dened. If the particles are assumed
to be uniformly distributed and their shapes not to depart too much from the average shape then the products
of their aspect ratios and their spacing ratios are each
close to 1 and the microstructure is then described by
ve independent parameters. This number is further
reduced to three, rst by transforming each unit-cell
whose relative dimensions are the spacing ratios into a
conguration dependent cylinder (Figs. 3(a) and (b)),
Table 2
3D inclusion characteristics of the studied steel
Population

MnS
Equiaxed
All

Volume fraction

Aspect ratios

Spacing ratios

fv %

Vv %

L
W

T
W

S
W

kL

kT

kS

0.024
0.032
0.056

0.047

0.075

4.8
1

1/28
1

8.0
1

0.63
0.96
0.79

0.84
0.98
0.92

1.89
1.06
1.37

Ratios are dened using a circular permutation rule (L, T, S). Vv is the value inferred from chemical analysis. The value of fv includes results on
ve sections [11].

Fig. 3. Schematic for the treatment of initial anisotropy. The geometry of Fig. 1 is obtained in two steps. Step 1: the unit cell of the particulate
aggregate is approximated by a cylinder whose axis is the loading axis: (a) major stress parallel to L; (b) major stress parallel to T. Step 2: the void
nucleated on an MnS inclusion is approximated by an equivalent spheroid as shown in (c).

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A.A. Benzerga et al. / Acta Materialia 52 (2004) 46394650

calculations reported in following sections. For simplicity, a constant shape factor has been assumed so that
c_ 0 in (20) and (21). The value of c, which does not
aect the prediction of failure initiation, is taken to be
0.8 in L-loading and 0.5 in T-loading. Such values are
consistent with the elongated voids developing into
conical shapes during coalescence while at voids keep
ellipsoidal shapes (see e.g. Fig. 9(b) and (c) in [1]). Also,
to simplify the nal stages of failure it was assumed that
the stress carrying capacity vanishes when the ligament
area is only 10% of the total area (i.e. v  0:83). This
agrees well with the coalescence process being terminated by micro-crack linkage before impingement.
3.2. Salient features of the theory
A typical force (P ) versus diameter-reduction (DU)
response is given in Fig. 4(a) for a bar with f 10

subject to transverse loading. Various stages of the

post-coalescence regime are highlighted in (b) and (c).
Diameter reduction is given along both the rolling direction, DUL , and the through-thickness direction, DUS ,
as an evidence for the anisotropy of deformation.
Moreover, Fig. 4(b) shows the anisotropy of damage
accumulation, here measured by the number of elements that undergo the post-coalescence behavior,
while Fig. 4(c) shows the subsequent anisotropy in
crack growth.
Before the stage marked A in Fig. 4(a) the plastic ow
of the material at the current loading point is normal to
the smooth yield surface (shown in dashed lines in
Fig. 2) with the evolution of the microstructure being
entirely dened by (17) and (18) for the porosity and
void aspect ratio, respectively. Indeed, as long as the
material lies on the pre-coalescence yield surface there is
no eect of the spacing ratio k. The evolution of mi-

Fig. 4. (a) Typical curve force vs. diameter reduction displaying several stages of fracture and anisotropy denoted AE. Case of transverse loading
(EZ eT ) with f 10, f0 0:00075, S0 3 and k0 1. (b) Elements undergoing coalescence are painted black. (c) Broken elements are painted
black. A: Onset of coalescence; B: crack initiation; C: anisotropy in extent of coalescence and crack growth; D: last element along L undergoing
coalescence; E: last element along L broken.

A.A. Benzerga et al. / Acta Materialia 52 (2004) 46394650

crostructural variables and stress triaxiality ratio at the

center of the bar is given in Fig. 5 (solid lines correspond
to the case f 10 discussed here).
Rapid void growth occurs at the center of the bar and
is accompanied with a steady decrease in the aspect ratio, which, under T-loading, corresponds to the void
opening up. Correspondingly, the ligament size ratio, v,
increases exponentially from a relatively high initial
value (v0  0:1) that reects an unfavorable loading
conguration; see Fig. 5(c). This increase in v (i.e. decrease of local ligament area) strongly aects the geometric factor Cf in (11). When for the rst time the
combined decrease of both ligament area and Cf outweighs the increase in the local axial stress the mode of
deformation shifts toward the coalescence mode so that
for a small increase of deformation the material point
now lies on the planar part of the post-coalescence yield
surface; see Fig. 2. This shift in the deformation mode
rst occurs at the center of the bar as shown in Fig. 4(b)
at stage A. As a consequence the global force drops
quite abruptly although there is no crack yet in the
specimen. When a crack has nucleated at stage B (see
Fig. 4(c)) the number of elements undergoing coalescence has very much increased. Coalescence extension as

4645

well as crack growth are both anisotropic as can be seen

in Figs. 4(b) and (c). The crack clearly advances faster in
the L direction than in the S direction. This is attributed
to plastic anisotropy, not to the fact that voids are
longer along L in the plane of coalescence.
Fig. 6 shows contours of porosity and void aspect
ratio in the two principal meridian planes (planes
containing the loading direction L and either T or S).
The microscopic eect of plastic anisotropy consists of
a faster development of porosity along T than along S.
The number of Gauss points undergoing coalescence at
the stage shown in Fig. 6 is 5 along T versus 3 along S.
This eect is amenable to the sole coupling between
damage and plastic anisotropy before the onset of coalescence. After the onset of coalescence at the center of
the bar, the anisotropy of crack initiation is enhanced
by the anisotropy in void distribution as well. As seen
in Fig. 7 void distribution is inhomogeneous and anisotropic. Higher values of the spacing ratio k are
reached along T. Large values of k correspond to the
voids being more closely spaced along the radial direction than along the axial direction, which precipitates further coalescence because the ligament is then
relatively smaller.

Fig. 5. Eect of notch geometry in T-loading on the evolution of (a) stress triaxiality, (b) ligament size ratio, (c) void aspect ratio and (d) porosity at
the center of a notched bar with f0 0:00075, S0 3 and k0 1:0.

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A.A. Benzerga et al. / Acta Materialia 52 (2004) 46394650

Fig. 7. Contours of the void spacing ratio, k, showing the anisotropy in

void distribution in L-loading (EZ eL ) with f 10, f0 0:00075,
S0 0 and k0 1:5.

age data in Table 2 and the standard deviation an estimate for W0 is 15.0 ( 5), which leads to the range of
values S0 2:353 for MnS inclusions. Of course
S0  0 for the equiaxed particles.
2. The approximate cylindrical unit cell is parallel to the
major normal stress and has aspect ratio k0X called
the spacing ratio. For the two loading congurations
q

Fig. 6. Eect of plastic anisotropy on bar deformation and void growth

under L-loading with f 10, f0 0:00075, S0 0 and k0 1:5.
(a) Cross-section in LT plane, (b) cross-section in LS plane.

3.3. Comparison with experiments

3.3.1. Initial microstructure
A quantitative comparison with experiments is made
using the equivalent initial microstructure shown in
Fig. 3 (also refer to Section 3.1). The three microstructural input parameters, S0 , k0 and f0 , are determined as
follows:
1. The aspect ratio of MnS inclusions is taken as the
geometric mean of the length-to-width and
length-
p
to-thickness aspect ratios, that is: W0  W S =W T
where bars were dropped for clarity. Using the aver-

S
T
of interest
qhere we have: k0L  k =k and
L
S
k0T  k =k . Using the average values of kI reported in Table 2, the estimates used are k0L 1:5
and k0T 0:6 for MnS inclusions and 1.04 and
0.95, respectively, for equiaxed particles.
3. The initial porosity, f0 , is taken to be of the order of
the volume fraction of active nucleation sites. An
upper limit for f0 is the sum of fv MnS and
fv Oxide (see Table 2). This upper value is taken
to be 0.00075. The lower limit is taken to be
fv MnS so that f0 0:0004.
Furthermore, sensitivity analyses to initial conditions, within the ranges mentioned above, have revealed
that S0 and to a lesser extent k0 are more critical than f0 .
Relevant initial conditions can be discussed and several
hypotheses formulated depending on the contribution of
the equiaxed particles to the fracture process. The calculations performed in the case of a transverse loading
were pursued until the force completely dropped to zero
whereas those performed in the case of an L-loading
were terminated after some crack propagation has taken
place but before the complete vanishing of the global
force. This is so because the ductility in the L-direction is
so high that the initially at elements elongate too much
for the results to be accurate after extensive crack
growth.

3.3.2. Strains to failure

We rst discuss the prediction of failure in the case of
L-loading where the major normal traction is parallel to

A.A. Benzerga et al. / Acta Materialia 52 (2004) 46394650

the void axis. Fig. 8 shows the comparison with representative experimental data. The scatter of the measured
diameter reductions at crack initiation is indicated by
horizontal bars. Two sets of initial microstructural
variables were used leading to two dierent predictions.
In both sets f0 0:00075 and k0 1:5 but S0 1:95 in
one set and S0 0 in the other. The case S0 0 was
investigated because at low stress triaxiality crack initiation is indeed caused by the initially equiaxed voids;
e.g. see Fig. 9(a) in [1]. If the initial void aspect ratio has
the intermediate value S0 1:95 between S0 (MnS) and
S0 (Oxide) the model provides an excellent agreement
with experiments in the case f 2 (Fig. 8(b)) but it
predicts too ductile a response in the case f 10,
Fig. 8(a) (dotted line). On the other hand, the prediction
is excellent for f 10 if equiaxed voids are the only
voids involved in the coalescence process (S0 0),
Fig. 8(a) (solid line).
To investigate this, Fig. 9 shows the evolution of the
microstructural variables (f , S and v) at the center of
each bar. First consider the low triaxiality case (f 10).

Fig. 8. Experimental and calculated load vs. diameter reduction curves

using f0 0:00075 and k0 1:5 for L-loading and (a) f 10 with
S0 1:95 (prediction 1) and S0 0 (prediction 2); (b) f 2 (prediction
1 only).

4647

For comparison, the results of the reference calculation

using the value S0 1:95 are also shown (dotted lines).
In this case Fig. 9(b) clearly shows that long voids
elongate further, which excludes internal necking coalescence. In experiments, such voids may rather be
involved in a necklace-like coalescence, which only
elongates the void so that the necking mode of

Fig. 9. Eect of notch geometry in L-loading on the evolution of

(a) ligament size ratio, (b) void aspect ratio and (c) porosity at the
center of a notched bar with f0 0:00075, k0 1:5 and S0 0 for the
f 10 bar and S0 1:95 for the f 2 bar. The dotted lines are for
the reference calculation with f 10 and S0 1:95.

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A.A. Benzerga et al. / Acta Materialia 52 (2004) 46394650

coalescence becomes less likely. Based on the result

obtained using S0 0 (solid line) along with experimental facts, we conclude that failure initiation under
L-loading at low stress triaxiality is controlled by the
coalescence of initially equiaxed voids. Note that using
S0 0 above while using for f0 and k0 values that also
account for MnS inclusions is justied based on (i) dilatancy associated with the growth of elongated voids
aects the global response; (ii) the void spatial distribution as measured by k0 is aected by both populations
of voids.
At higher stress triaxiality (case of f 2) the situation
is dierent. A scenario is conrmed whereby the elongated voids actively contribute to the coalescence process, in keeping with experiments [1]. This is so because,
as deformation proceeds, relative void elongation is diminished as seen in Fig. 9(b) (dashed line). This decrease
in the void aspect ratio is due to the fact that radial void
growth is faster than the axial growth even though the
major normal traction is axial (notice the high rate of v
in Fig. 9(a)). With both populations of voids involved,
the value S0 1:95 is found here to best represent the
extent to which each population contributes to crack
initiation in the f 2 bar.
Next we discuss the prediction of failure in the case
of T-loading. Here the major normal traction is perpendicular to the void axis. Thus axisymmetry is broken. For that reason, the calculations here were carried
out using two variants for the denition of ligament
size ratio: k 1=3 in Eq. (12)2 as in [11] or k 1. The
results shown in Fig. 10(a) using k 1=3, f0 0:0004,
S0 2:35 and k0 0:6 clearly overestimate ductility
(dashed lines). Recognizing both the deleterious eect
of MnS inclusions under T-loading and the contribution of equiaxed voids, the prediction is signicantly
improved using f0 0:00075, S0 3 and k0 1 (solid
line). The improvement here is mainly due to the value
of k0 and not to the larger value of S0 3 because, for
very elongated shapes, the pre-coalescence model is
insensitive to S0 given the saturation of the coecient
a2 in Eq. (8) [11,25]. Using the value k 1 inferred
from unit-cell calculations leads to better results as
shown below.
The average strain at crack initiation, 
c ln U20 =
UJ UK , is a measure of ductility that incorporates
plastic anisotropy. Fig. 11 summarizes the predictions of
ductility under both loading orientations (with k 1
under transverse loading). The predicted strains at crack
initiation fall within the experimental scatter and, for Tloading, are slightly above the average experimental
values. The fracture anisotropy that is well rendered
here is associated with initial anisotropy for f 2 and
with the presence of two populations of voids for f 10.
The dierence with respect to initial values between the
two orientations is mainly due to k0 being conguration
dependent. Also the current theory does not explicitly

Fig. 10. Experimental and calculated load vs. diameter reduction

curves for T-loading and (a) f 10 with f0 0:0004, k0 0:6 and
S0 2:35 (prediction 1) and f0 0:00075, k0 1 and S0 3 (prediction 2); (b) f 2 (prediction 2 only).

Fig. 11. Comparison between measured and predicted average strains

to failure initiation in notched bars for two loading orientations.

distinguish between the two populations of voids.

Therefore, there is certainly room for further
improvement.

A.A. Benzerga et al. / Acta Materialia 52 (2004) 46394650

3.3.3. Local porosities

In making comparisons at the microscopic level, the
interest is in the evolution of all microstructural variables. The emphasis is laid, however, on local porosities
because isotropic models fail to predict these whenever
they fairly predict the macroscopic fracture strains.
The predicted evolution of the void aspect ratio,
S ln W , and the ligament size ratio, v, was shown in
Figs. 5 and 9 for loading along T and L, respectively.
Only the void aspect ratio can be directly related to the
void growth ratios measured in the companion paper [1]
by noting that under L-loading W =W0 is simply the
relative axial to lateral void growth ratio, cL =cS .
Therefore, if void growth is predominantly extensional
(cL > cS ), as in the f 10 bar (low triaxiality ratio T),
then S must be an increasing function of strain. Conversely, if void growth is mostly dilational (cL < cS ) then
S must be a decreasing function. Comparison between
Fig. 13 in [1] (maximum values) and the present Fig. 9(b)
shows that the model not only accounts for that qualitative trend but also picks up the transition from extensional to dilational void growth for elongated
cavities. Under T-loading, assuming a spheroidal shape
for the voids at the initiation of macroscopic failure and
noting that W =W0 is identied with the measured
p
cL = cT cS , it is also easy to check that the void aspect
ratio (as dened here in the local frame) must decrease,
irrespective of the stress state. This is precisely what is
seen in Fig. 5(c) above, consistent with the experimental
trends.
Next we proceed to the comparison of the predicted
porosities at the onset of coalescence, fc , with the local
void area fractions measured in Part I. As noted there,
measured porosities comprised between the local average, f , and the local maximum, fmax , should be representative of near-coalescence states. This type of detailed
comparison is only possible for an L oriented bar with
f 4 and a T oriented bar with f 10, for which local
measurements were carried out. Fig. 12 shows the predicted porosity, fc (open symbols), the local porosities, f
and fmax when available, along with the average void
area fraction, fa , dened in [1] as the total void area over
the total area analyzed. In Fig. 12 error bars shown for
fa include the accuracy of measuring void dimensions
and total analyzed area [1] while those shown for f and
fmax indicate the standard error with 95% condence
intervals. In particular, the error in estimating fmax is
computed using all cells having porosity larger than
0.02.
Under L-loading, the predicted fc matches quite well
the maximum local porosity, fmax , whereas, under Tloading, the predicted fc falls between f and fmax . Both
predictions are remarkable not only because they fall
within the relevant experimental range but also because
each prediction approximately corresponds to the local
maximum in the frequency distribution of the measured

4649

Fig. 12. Measured and predicted porosities at incipient coalescence in

notched bars. (a) L orientation. (b) T orientation. fmax : largest local
porosity; f : local average; fa : global average.

void area fractions (see Fig. 15 in Part I). Also, under

L-loading fc is found to increase with enhancing stress
triaxiality and so does the measured average porosity,
but to a lesser extent. This trend of an increasing fc with
increasing stress triaxiality, within the range considered
here, is consistent with previous theoretical predictions
[12,17]. It is worth recalling that the measured values
correspond to elongated voids. Thus, for consistency,
the fc values in Fig. 12 were determined for the same set
of initial microstructural variables. In particular, the
value corresponding to f 10 does not correspond to
an actual onset of coalescence; it is the value that porosity would have taken at failure initiation in experiments if the elongated cavities were involved in that
initiation. For the T orientation case, the porosity at
coalescence is not found to vary much within the range
of stress triaxiality explored here. However, because of
the heuristic character of our extension of the coalescence criterion to non-axisymmetric congurations, that
model in particular is open to improvements.

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A.A. Benzerga et al. / Acta Materialia 52 (2004) 46394650

In all loading congurations considered here, the

values of fc are an outcome of the calculations and not
an input. Quantitative comparisons based on isotropic
models usually require that critical porosities be adjusted so that the macroscopic failure strains can be
fairly predicted. It should be emphasized that commonly
used values for the critical porosity, compared with our
fc , fall in the range 0.0010.003 for an initial porosity,
f0 , of 0.00075 and can be even smaller for lower values
of f0 . Such critical porosities are one order of magnitude lower than the values measured in [1] and, for the
L orientation case, they are of the order of the global
average porosity, fa . But what is critical to the onset of
failure in notched bars is the local porosity, not fa .

4. Conclusions
In this paper, a general theory of ductile fracture has
been proposed and its application to engineering alloys
illustrated. The theory rst accounts for matrix anisotropy which may result from texture development during
the metal working process. Next, the theory accounts
for morphological anisotropy which can be initial, due
to non-spherical second-phase particles, or induced, due
to the evolution of void shape. The theory also accounts
for the whole void-coalescence process through a micromechanical model. Accounting for that process leads
to an eective yield surface which displays regions of
extreme curvature. One outcome of using the developed
constitutive relations is a loading response that includes
the transition from a pre-coalescence stage to a postcoalescence stage without using adjustable factors.
The predictive approach pursued in this study relies
on: (i) a careful characterization of the microstructure in
the undeformed state using standard quantitative metallography techniques; (ii) recording the mechanical
response of the material under various stress states and
orientations with a special attention to plastic anisotropy; (iii) a nite-element implementation of the constitutive relations relevant to anisotropy and to dierent
modes of dilational deformation; (iv) a complementary
collection of data related to the microstructure in the
deformed state with the aim of assessing the approach in
an unbiased way. The calculations here quantitatively
reproduce the behavior seen in notched bars in remarkable detail. Moreover, the accuracy of the predictions has been achieved under the following conditions:
(i) no adjustable parameter has been used (the counterpart for that is the collection of a large amount of
data on the initial microstructure); (ii) the quality of the
prediction is obtained using a very low value for the
initial porosity, which is inferred from measurements;
(iii) predictions of global failure strains and local

porosities at incipient
simultaneously.

coalescence

are

achieved

Acknowledgements
Financial support from Gaz de France (Direction de
la Recherche; Program managers R. Batisse and
M. Zarea) is greatly acknowledged.
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