Estimation of material parameters in nonlinear hardening plasticity models and strain life curves for CuAg alloy

This work investigates the cyclic response and low-cycle fatigue behaviour of a CuAg alloy used in crystallizer for continuous casting lines. Therefore isothermal strain-based fatigue tests are first performed on CuAg specimens at different temperature levels (20 °C, 250 °C, 300 °C). The evolution of stress-strain loops recorded during the cyclic tests is used for the parameter identification of several nonlinear hardening models (nonlinear kinematic, nonlinear isotropic). Cyclic stress-strain data from experiments are compared with results from numerical simulations with the identified material parameters, showing a satisfying agreement. Critical examination of numerical results from different models is also performed. Finally, the strain- life fatigue curves estimated from experimental data are compared with approximate strain-life equations (Universal Slopes Equation, 10% Rule) which are obtained from simple tensile tests. The material parameters determined in this work can conveniently be used as inputs in a elasto- plastic finite element simulations of a crystallizer.