Forming of Magnesium – Crystal Plasticity and Plastic Potentials

Magnesium alloys show a deformation behaviour, which is quite different from that of other lightweight materials like aluminium. What constitutes the difference is the respective crystalline structure, namely hexagonal close-packed (hcp) for magnesium and face-centred cubic (fcc) for aluminium. Capturing the special features of the deformation phenomena of magnesium hence requires accounting for the microstructural mechanisms. This is realised with the help of crystal plasticity. The specific slip mechanisms occurring in magnesium are identified and single crystals as well as textured polycrystals are analysed numerically. The linking of micro- and mesoscale provides a procedure for the simulation of the yielding and hardening behaviour of arbitrarily textured solids with hcp structure.