Experimental study and numerical simulation of the plastic deformation of zirconium single crystals
There is only few experimental data in the literature on the zirconium single crystals and no constitutive laws for this single crystal material are provided. The goal of this work is then to create an exhaustive experimental database like the Critical Resolved Shear Stress (CRSS) for the prismatic slip, the strain-hardening, the activation of the prismatic glide system and the activation volumes. We determine theses parameters from image correlation method. Then, we develop a new multiscale approach using dislocations dynamics concept and finite element computations. Finally, a first single crystal constitutive law for the zirconium is proposed and a good agreement with the experimental data is obtained.