Mechanical behavior of recrystallized Zircaloy-4 under monotonic loading at room temperature: Tests and simplified anisotropic modeling

Mechanical behavior of recrystallized Zircaloy-4 was studied at room temperature in the rolling-transverse plane of a thin sheet. Uniaxial constant elongation rate tests (CERTs) were performed along with creep tests, over a wide range of strain rates. Based on a simplified formulation, different sets of parameters for an anisotropic viscoplastic model were found to fit the stress–strain curves. Notched specimen tensile tests were carried out with a digital image correlation (DIC) technique in order to determine the strain field evolution. From these measurements and the determination of Lankford coefficients, the most consistent model was selected and simulated data were successfully compared with the experimental observations.