Influence of twinning on the constitutive responses of Zr: Experiments and modeling

The stress-strain response of Zr due to twinning is distinctly different from that due to slip as a function of temperature and strain rate. When the applied stress is lower than the transition stress, dislocation slip is the dominant deformation mechanism. The traditional MTS model is shown to adequately represent the constitutive behavior of Zr. Above the transition stress twinning becomes the dominant deformation mechanism where the flow stress increases linearly with strain. In this regime the rate-dependent strain hardening can be described by equations based on thermal activation theory that are very similar to the formula used in the MTS model.