Experimental and theoretical investigation of PLC bands

In this paper, the nucleation and propagation of PLC deformation bands in AlMg3 alloy are studied experimentally and theoretically. The morphology and kinematics of PLC bands are investigated using both mechanical and thermal measurement methods. In particular, the latter is based on the use of a thermal camera which captures the temperature changes resulting from mechanical dissipation during nucleation and propagation of PLC bands. On the modeling side, two models are investigated via finite-element and finite-difference methods. Here, attention is focused on the influence of the specimen geometry and the thermomechanical coupling on PLC band nucleation and propagation. A comparison of experimental and simulation results is presented. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)