Visco-plastic constitutive models of steel at high temperature

A.E. Huespe
*
, A. Cardona, N. Nigro, V. Fachinotti
Centro Internacional de Metodos Computacionales en Ingenier a (CIMEC), INTEC-Universidad Nacional del Litoral/Conicet,
Guemes 3450-3000 Santa Fe, Argentina
Received 21 December 1998
Abstract
Two constitutive elasto-visco-plastic models are adopted to simulate the behavior of plain carbon steel at high temperature, specically at
the austenitic range (9501300

C), being particularly appropriate for the numerical simulation of casting and hot-working processes. The
response in hardening, creep and non-uniform loading conditions is analyzed and compared with experimental data. An efcient numerical
integration scheme is proposed and its accuracy is evaluated using iso-error maps. The consistent isothermal tangent matrix is computed
and the nal models are implemented into an FEM code. Several tests are performed to evaluate the accuracy and robustness of the
integration scheme. Finally an application concerning the analysis of the thermal stresses produced at the early stage of a steel continuous
casting process is shown. # 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Steel constitutive models; Numerical approach of visco-plasticity; Thermal stresses in casting processes
1. Introduction
Steel is one of the most important materials in present-day
technological applications. Huge investments are made to
optimize its production. Adequate design of the industrial
processes involved is, therefore, of utmost importance. A
tool that is becoming essential in attaining this objective is
numerical simulation, the results of which depend strongly
on the assumptions adopted to develop the corresponding
model. One important aspect lies in the description of the
mechanical response of the material under the process
conditions.
This paper presents two models of the constitutive beha-
vior of steel at high temperature in the range of the austenitic
phase and below the solidication temperature. These mod-
els play a main role in the numerical simulation of steel
production processes such as continuous casting, static
casting, hot-working, etc. Discussion is made on their
computational aspects, presenting an efcient numerical
integration, giving special attention to the time integration
scheme and to the expression of the isothermal tangent
matrix.
A large number of works exist in the literature regarding
the correct description of this constitutive response. A series
of experimental data was presented by Wray [1] and by
Suzuki et al. [2]. The former author performed tests with a
constant-strain-rate mode of loading, showing the depen-
dence of the constitutive laws on the carbon content, the
temperature and the strain rate, whilst the latter authors
presented experimental data obtained from variable (cyclic)
loads.
One-dimensional analytical models of constitutive beha-
vior have been proposed by Anand [3] and by Kozlowski
et al. [4]. In both cases, the material parameters were
adjusted using the experimental data set of Wray to describe
the response of plain carbon steel at high temperature and
low strain rate.
The numerical integration of visco-plastic constitutive
equations has also achieved much attention in the literature,
amongst which the algorithms proposed in the works of
Zienkiewicz and Cormeau [5] and Peirce et al. [6] can be
mentioned. Peric and Rouaina [7,8] presented an integration
procedure that is based on an Euler-backward scheme
(EBS). The present authors follow closely these works,
modifying the EBS to obtain a cheaper algorithm, the
integration error introduced owing to this assumption being
analyzed.
The layout of the paper is as follows. The second section
describes the two visco-plastic material models with a
comparison against experimental data. Section 3 introduces
the time integration algorithm and an accuracy analysis by
Journal of Materials Processing Technology 102 (2000) 143152
*
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ahuespe@arcride.edu.ar (A.E. Huespe)
0924-0136/00/$ see front matter # 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.
PII: S0 9 2 4 - 0 1 3 6 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 4 4 2 - 8
means of iso-error maps. Section 4 is devoted to numerical
applications illustrating the power of the algorithm.
2. Visco-plastic models
The rst model belongs to the class of generalized
standard materials. It can be derived from a general model
proposed by Lema tre and Chaboche [9] by adopting ade-
quate parameters and a slightly different hardening law. As
is known, this kind of material model has a well founded
thermo-mechanical framework.
The second model has an empirical basis and was pre-
sented by Anand [3], being extended in the present work to
describe multi-dimensional stress states.
Both models are able to describe some important phe-
nomenological aspects associated with visco-plastic beha-
vior, such as isotropic hardening and creep. Nevertheless,
neither recovery effects nor cyclic plasticity are modeled.
The incompressibility assumption of visco-plastic deforma-
tions is implicit in the ow laws.
Parameter estimation in both models has been made using
the experimental data set of Wray [1]. In the nal part of this
section, the results of both implemented models are com-
pared with the data set published by Wray and that by Suzuki
et al. [2].
2.1. A model based on thermodynamics
Next the constitutive equations are given in the context of
the small deformations thermo-mechanical theory. The work
of Kozlowski et al. [4], who adjusted several one-dimen-
sional visco-plastic models, one of them being characterized
by a time-independent hardening, which we generalize here
into the three-dimensional case.
The free energy c can be written as the addition of two
terms
c(e
e
; y; a) = c
e
(e
e
; y) c
h
(a; y); (1)
where the terms c
e
and c
h
are associated with reversible
processes and with hardening mechanisms, respectively.
The state variables (e
e
; y; a) are the elastic strain, the tem-
perature and an internal variable that represents the material
hardening being equal to the accumulated inelastic equiva-
lent strain. From the small deformation hypothesis, the total
strain can be decomposed additively into an elastic part and
an inelastic part
e =
1
2
(\u \
T
u) = e
e
e
vp
; (2)
where u is the displacement eld. The free-energy term
associated with the reversible processes is dened as
c
e
(e
e
; y) =
1
2
D(e
e
2
^
b(y)1)e
e
; (3)
where heat-capacity effects have been neglected. The
fourth-order tensor of classical elasticity D, can be written
in terms of Lame parameters (l; m) as D = 2mI l(1 1),
with I and 1 being the fourth and second-order identity
tensors. The thermal linear expansion (TLE) function
^
b(y),
is dened as follows:
^
b(y) =
_
y
y
r
b(s) ds; (4)
where b is the thermal expansion coefcient and y
r
a
reference temperature for thermal deformation. This rela-
tionship is capable of handling isothermic volumetric expan-
sion during solidsolid phase transformations.
The free-energy term associated with the hardening
mechanism is given by
c
h
(a; y) =
a
n 1
a
n1
; (5)
where the material parameters a and n are assumed to be
strongly dependent on temperature y.
Starting from the expression of free energy and by
applying classical arguments of thermodynamics, the state
equations are derived as follows:
r = \
e
e c = De
e
3
^
bk
vol
1; (6)
R = \
a
c = aa
n
; (7)
where r is stress and R the generalized force, which are
conjugate variables to (e
e
; a). The second term on the r.h.s.
of Eq. (6) is the thermal stress, which is computed using the
volumetric modulus k
vol
=
2
3
m l.
Next the generalized potential function O(r; y; R) is
dened within the context of generalized standard materials
O =
L
m 1
s
eq
R)
m1
; (8)
where ) is the Macauley bracket, L(y) and m(y) are
material parameters depending on the temperature, s
eq
=
3
2
(s s)
_
1=2
the equivalent stress and s the deviatoric stress
(s = dev r). The gradient of O determines the ow law (the
generalized normality rule [9,10]), resulting in
_ e
vp
= \
s
O =

3
2
_
Ls
eq
R)
m
m; (9)
_ a = \
R
O = Ls
eq
R)
m
=

2
3
(_ e
vp
_ e
vp
)
_
= _ e
vp
eq
;
where m = s= | s | and _ e
vp
eq
is the equivalent visco-plastic
strain rate.
The functional dependence of Lwith temperature is given
by the Arrhenius law
L(y) = C(c) exp
Q
y
_ _
; (10)
where Q is the activation energy over the Boltzmann's
constant and C a proportionality factor depending on the
carbon content of the steel (c).
Following the work of Kozlowski et al., the values of
the parameters are determined as: C = 46 550 71 400c
144 A.E. Huespe et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 102 (2000) 143152
12 000c
2
; Q = 44 650; a = 130:5 5:128 10
3
y; n =
0:6289 1:114 10
3
y and m = 8:132 1:540
10
3
y, where the temperature is given in the Kelvin scale
(K), the carbon content is in wt.% C and the stress is in MPa.
2.2. Anand's visco-plastic model
In Anand's model, there is no explicit plastic yielding
condition and it is not possible to derive the ow law from a
dissipation potential. Whilst the elastic response and the
additive decomposition of strains are similar to those of the
previous model, the ow rule is expressed by using
_ e
vp
=

3
2
_
L
s
eq
z
_ _
m
m; s
eq
< z; (11)
_
z = Lh
0
1
z
~
z(s
eq
=z)
nm
_ _
s
eq
z
_ _
m
; (12)
where the factor Ldepends on the temperature as in Eq. (10).
The parameters C, Q, h
0
and
~
z in this model are constant.
The author considered that the experimental data are not
sufcient to accurately determine the temperature depen-
dence of parameters m and n and thus they are assumed
constant.
The internal variable z that characterizes material
hardening does not represent the total plastic strain as in
the previous model. Anand dened an initial state of z(z
0
)
depending on the temperature and the strain rate and varying
in the range 3552 MPa. The inuence of this initial value
in the response is noticeable. Therefore, the model
becomes rather questionable when a problem with general
non-uniform temperature and strain rate is solved. Anand
proposed to use an average value of z
0
for each temperature.
Using the mentioned experimental data of Wray, Anand
estimated the parameters for a 0.05 wt.% C plain carbon
steel, resulting in: C = 10
11
s
1
; Q=32514 K; h
0
=
1329:22 MPa;
~
z = 147:6 MPa; n = 0:3 and m = 6:8027.
Although they were given for this particular carbon steel,
in this work these parameters have been used in a broader
carbon content range (0.050.5 wt.% C). The error
introduced by this simplication is noted in Fig. 1, the
stressstrain experimental data dependence on the carbon
contents as reported by Wray is shown. The gure compares
the responses of both models in each case.
2.3. Comparison with experimental results
A series of the one-dimensional constitutive behavior of
both models describing hardening, creep and changes in the
load conditions are presented. Additional information can be
found in the above-mentioned papers of Anand and
Kozlowski et al.
In Fig. 2 are plotted stressstrain curves of a 0.29 wt.% C
steel at xed temperature for three different constant strain
rates. These plots indicate the agreement of the hardening
description with the experimental data of Wray [1]. Anand's
model shows a good agreement with this range of strains
and strain rates. The model of Kozlowski et al. overestimates
the stresses at low strain rates and large strains. However,
when the problem involves strains smaller than 2%, the
approximation is as good as that of Anand's model.
Fig. 3 plots creep curves at different stress levels, in which
the experimental data correspond to the results of Suzuki
et al. [2]. The correct trend of the rst model with regard to
experimental results at 1300

C and the excellent agreement

in the low stress range can be noted. However, as was
remarked by Kozlowski et al., this model underestimates
the strains at high temperatures (y = 1400

C).
The plots of Fig. 4 are stressstrain curves for constant
temperature and two different strain rates. In the same gure
the response after a sudden change in the test loading
conditions, i.e. from high to low strain rates, were analyzed.
In Fig. 5 a similar analysis is made, but a change in
temperature is instead imposed. The present authors are
not aware of experimental data to validate these numerical
Fig. 1. Dependence of the stressstrain curves on the carbon contents.
(y = 1100

C, _ e = 1:4 10
4
s
1
, Anand's model: z
0
= 43 Mpa).
Fig. 2. Hardening curves at different strain rates (_ e = 2:4 10
3
s
1
,
1:5 10
4
s
1
and 6:1 10
6
s
1
; y = 1100

C, 0.29 wt.% C steel).

A.E. Huespe et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 102 (2000) 143152 145
results. However, the trend in both models is good. Some
other models that have been adopted widely to simulate steel
production processes, describe material hardening as a
function of time: they usually show an unexpected behavior
in this kind of numerical test.
It is concluded that both constitutive models are suitable
to represent, with a good agreement, the response of
steel at high temperature. Their validity range is extended,
at least for small deformation processes, to strain rates
varying between 10
6
and 10
2
s
1
and as long as dynamic
recrystallization does not appear.
3. Time integration scheme
The state equation (6) can be uncoupled into the spherical
and deviatoric parts as follows:
s
m
= k(tr e
e
3
^
b(y)); (13)
s = 2me
e
dev
= 2m(e
dev
e
vp
); (14)
where s
m
is the mean stress, tr() the trace of a tensor and
e
dev
the deviatoric strain, resulting in r = s
m
1 s.
By neglecting the material time derivative _ m = (dm=dy)
_
y,
Eq. (14) can be written in the rate form
_ s = 2m(_ e
dev
_ e
vp
): (15)
After substituting Eq. (9) into Eq. (15), and by applying an
Euler-backward time discretization scheme (EBS) to the
resulting differential equation system, the following is
obtained:
s
k1
m
= k(tr e
k1
3
^
b(y
k1
)); (16)
s
k1
= s
k1
trial
2mDtL

3
2
_
| s
k1
| R
k1
_ _
m
m
k1
; (17)
s
k1
trial
= s
k
2m(e
k1
dev
e
k
dev
); (18)
a
k1
= a
k
DtLs
k1
eq
R
k1
)
m
; (19)
where indices k and k 1 refer to two successive time steps
and material parameters are evaluated at temperature y
k1
.
It may be remarked that the three terms of Eq. (17) are
co-linear and thus
m
k1
=
s
k1
trial
| s
k1
trial
|
:
Next a numerical integration algorithm of the strain-
driven type is considered, i.e. one which determines r
k1
given e
k1
. The above discrete non-linear equation system
has two unknown scalars, o =| s
k1
| and a
k1
. By
modifying slightly the integration scheme, and evaluating
Eqs. (17) and (19) with R
k
instead of R
k1
, it is possible to
uncouple the unknowns. Dening the scalar g =| s
k1
trial
|,
then the solution procedure consists of solving the
non-linear scalar equation
Fig. 3. Creep curves (stresses: s = 9:8, 5:5 and 2:5 MPa and y = 1300

C).
Fig. 4. Equivalent stressstrain curves for strain rate decrement tests
from an initial strain rate of _ e
i
= 2:3 10
2
s
1
to a nal strain rate of
_ e
f
= 1:4 10
4
s
1
at strains e = 0:01 and 0.06. The temperature is held
constant at 950

C.
Fig. 5. Stressstrain curves for temperature increment tests, from an initial
temperature of y
i
= 900

C to a nal temperature of y
f
= 1300

C at strains
of e = 0:01 and 0.06. The strain rate is held constant at _ e = 2:3 10
2
s
1
.
146 A.E. Huespe et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 102 (2000) 143152
F(o) = o

6
_
mDtL

3
2
_
o R
k
_ _
m
g = 0; (20)
whenever

3
2
_
g > R
k
, i.e. the loading case. After that, it is
possible to evaluate a
k1
from Eq. (19). In the unloading
case, the solution is o = g, a
k1
= a
k
.
Remark 1. An exact EBS, i.e. the use of R
k1
in Eqs. (17)
and (19), results in a system of two coupled non-linear
algebraic equations.
Remark 2. Since F
/
> 0 for all o _ o
0
=

2
3
_
R
k
, F(w
0
)
< 0 and F(w ) > 0, a unique real root o of (20) exists
in [o
0
; ). Therefore, a NewtonRaphson procedure should
work appropriately to obtain it. However, some problems
with this iterative scheme can arise when the differential
equation becomes stiff, i.e. when m 1. In this case, a very
robust procedure consists of relaxing the Newton step (by a
factor < 1) in such a way that [F[ in the new iteration is less
than its previous value.
Anand's model can be integrated using the same idea. The
resulting scalar equation is slightly different from (20) and
can be obtained in a straightforward way. Since this model
does not have an elastic domain, there is always the need to
solve a non-linear algebraic equation in order to nd the
correct state.
3.1. Algorithmic consistent tangent matrix
The correct evaluation of the tangent matrix consistent
with the constitutive integration algorithm is essential to
reach a good numerical response when searching for equili-
brium.
From Eqs. (16)(19), it is possible to differentiate r
k1
as
a function of e
k1
and y
k1
, to obtain:
dr
k1
= Cde
k1
Ady
k1
: (21)
The isothermal algorithmic tangent tensor C is evaluated
by using
C = k(1 1)
2m
1 x
I
1
3
(1 1)
o
1 o
(m m)
_ _
;
(22)
with
x =

6
_
mLDt
| s
k1
|
s
k1
eq
R
k
)
m
;
o =
x
1 x

3
2
_
m | s
k1
|
s
k1
eq
R
k
)
1
_
_
_
_
:
Although tensor A may be computed when analyzing
non-isothermal processes, its contribution to the algorithm
tangent matrix has been neglected.
3.2. Analysis of the integration error
It is known that the EBS, although unconditionally stable,
produces large errors when the differential equation to be
integrated is stiff (roughly when m > 5, see [7]). Another
source of error in the solution of the discrete equation system
is attributed to the choice of R
k
instead of R
k1
in Eqs. (17)
and (19). Strictly, the unconditional stability property is not
necessarily preserved in this case.
In order to assess the accuracy of the integration proce-
dure, the iso-error maps have been computed and compared
with those corresponding to the exact EBS. The same
approach has been followed by several authors to evaluate
the accuracy of different integration schemes (see e.g. [7,11]
and the references therein).
The construction of the error maps involves the solution of
several three-dimensional homogeneous state cases with
controlled strain. Starting from a point on the plane of
octahedral stresses (i.e. on the yield surface), a strain
increment is given with normal and tangential components
to the yield surface, as is shown in Fig. 6(d). The stress r is
obtained using the proposed integration procedure and
compared with a solution r
EX
computed using 1000 strain
sub-increments (with the time properly scaled to preserve
constant strain rate). The integration error is then determined
evaluating
d =
(r r
EX
)(r r
EX
)
r
EX
r
EX
100(%): (23)
Fig. 6 shows iso-curves of d when the Kozlowski et al.'s
model is used, taking y = 1000

C, c = 0:3 wt.% C and

m = 7692 MPa. The initial state is dened arbitrarily as:
a
0
= 0:02 and the stress, in terms of the principal values,
as:
r
o
= 4:604
1

6
_ ;
1

6
_ ;
2

6
_
_ _
MPa:
The strain increments are taken as De = De
t
De
n
, with
De
t
= De
t

1

2
_ ;
1

2
_ ; 0
_ _
;
De
n
= De
n
1

6
_ ;
1

6
_ ;
2

6
_
_ _
:
This gure compares the iso-error maps of the present
scheme and the EBS when strain rates of _ e = 5
10
4
s
1
and _ e = 5 10
2
s
1
are imposed.
It is concluded that the difference between the present
procedure and the exact EBS is not noticeable. It may also be
appreciated that in order to have accurate results, the strain
increments should be of the same order of magnitude as the
elastic increment for both algorithms, a result also obtained
in [7] where an EBS has been used for integrating the visco-
plastic plane stress equations.
A.E. Huespe et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 102 (2000) 143152 147
4. Numerical applications
Two numerical examples are shown to analyze the accu-
racy, robustness and efciency of the scheme that is pro-
posed. The rst problem is a classical one with known
analytical solution, whilst the second example corresponds
to the stress analysis in the solid shell of a continuous casting
billet: it has been extracted from a more complete study that
includes uid ow and thermal phenomena [12,13], but here
only the mechanical aspects of the problem, are presented.
Both problems are discretized spatially using nite ele-
ments.
4.1. Thick-walled cylinder
A thick-walled cylinder subjected to an internal pressure
is modeled using the axisymmetric hypothesis (Fig. 7).
The model consists of a mesh of crossed triangles forming
10 rectangular cells. This example has been taken from
Peirce et al. [6], who solved it using a constitutive material
with a non-hardening visco-plastic strain rate law of the
form:
_ e
vp
= _ e
0
s
eq
s
0
_ _
m
m: (24)
Fig. 6. Iso-error curves: (a) the present integration procedure (_ e = 5 10
4
s
1
); (b) the exact EBS (_ e = 5 10
4
s
1
); (c) the present integration procedure
(_ e = 5 10
2
s
1
) and (d) the deviatoric principal stress plane, incremental strain vs. stress vectors.
Fig. 7. Axisymmetric model of the thick-walled cylinder.
148 A.E. Huespe et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 102 (2000) 143152
The stress level (s
0
= 1) determines an apparent yield stress.
A strain rate of _ e
0
= 0:002 and a strain of e
0
= s
0
=E are
introduced as reference values, determining a reference time
t
0
= e
0
=_ e
0
. A constant displacement rate
_
U = r
a
_ e
0
is
imposed on the inner wall of the cylinder.
By using the material parameters given in Fig. 7, Anand's
model simulates exactly this material law. Kozlowski et al.'s
model may match the same law, provided that no unloading
occurs, for the set of parameters stated in the same gure. It
may be remarked that the present numerical integration
scheme becomes an exact EBS in the particular case of a
non-hardening material.
The problem was solved for two cases: m = 5 and
m = 1000. Since strain rate sensitivity in the second case
is practically negligible, the solution approaches inviscid
elasto-plastic behavior and the equations become extremely
stiff. This test was proposed by Peirce et al. to evaluate the
stability and accuracy of different integration schemes. They
chose, as a criterion to compare algorithms, the maximum
allowable discrete time increment (Dt) for which an accep-
table solution is obtained.
In Fig. 8 are plotted the pressure vs. inner wall displace-
ments and the circumferential stress distribution obtained at
different stages of the analysis. A time increment of
Dt=t
0
= 1 has been used. The results agree very well with
the exact solution, but it is also appreciated that they are
quite inaccurate, at the `knee', for Dt=t
0
= 2. Since com-
puted values for this time increment have not been reported
in [6], a comparison is not possible.
A time increment of Dt = t
0
produces a circumferential
strain increment at the inner wall equal to e
0
, which can be
considered as a representative elastic strain in this material.
Therefore, the results obtained match what has been pointed
out in the previous section.
4.2. Continuous casting process
The stress analysis of the initial stage of a round billet
steel continuous casting process (Fig. 9) is presented. The
liquid steel is poured into a hollow mould which extracts
sufcient heat to solidify a thin outer shell. After leaving the
mould, the billet passes through a water-spray zone where
complete solidication of the section is obtained. Stress
analysis in the thin solid shell, into the mould region, is a
subject of interest because several kind of cracks and defects
are believed to arise at this early stage of the process.
Assuming symmetry of revolution, a thermo-mechanical
formulation has been developed by Huespe et al. [12] to
solve the problem. Here is shown the mechanical aspect of
the analysis, making a detailed comparison of the computed
stresses for different material models.
The cast material is a 0:3 wt:%C plain carbon steel,
with liquid and solid heat conductivity of k
l
= 30 W=
m
2
K, k
s
= 192 W=m
2
K; solidication latent heat L =
272000 J=kg, liquid and solid densities r = 7200 kg=m
3
;
and temperature-dependent heat capacity c
p
that varies from
632 J=kg K at 1000

C to 806 J=kg K at 1505

C. The solidus
temperature has been taken as y
s
= 1490

C, the liquidus
temperature as y
l
= 1505

C, and the pure iron melting

temperature y
M
= 1530

C. A linearized equilibrium phase

diagram (FeC) has been adopted and the lever rule deter-
mines the relationship between temperature and the solid
fraction in the mushy zone.
Heat ow through the metalmould contact surface is
imposed via a SavagePritchard type law given by
q[W=m
2
[ = 2:19 10
6
5:64 10
5

z[m[
v
c
[m=s[
_ _
3:37
10
6
z[m[ 0:160 10
6
(z[m[)
2
;
while heat extraction in the water-spray zone is described by
a convective law h
ws
(y y
ws
), with h
ws
= 500 W=m
2
K and
y
ws
= 30

C. The temperature eld is evaluated using an

Fig. 8. Thick-walled cylinder: (a) pressure vs. inner wall displacement and
(b) radial distribution of the circumferential stresses at different times
(m = 1000, Dt=t
0
= 1).
A.E. Huespe et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 102 (2000) 143152 149
Eulerian formulation of the enthalpy balance. The phase-
change latent heat is considered as a source term, see Voller
et al. [14]. Fig. 10(a) shows the isotherms and the liquid
mushysolid boundaries that have been obtained using the
thermal model.
After the temperature eld has been obtained, the
mechanical problem is solved using an ALE technique,
see Huespe et al. [12]. The adopted Young's modulus and
thermal expansion function are plotted in Fig. 11.
The analysis was performed for both visco-plastic mate-
rials as well as an elasto-plastic material with isotropic linear
hardening. In the latter case, the yield stress and hardening
modulus have been determined by matching the stressstrain
response of the Kozlowski et al. model at a constant strain
rate of _ e = 1:4 10
4
s
1
(Fig. 12).
Fig. 10(b) shows the total inelastic equivalent strain eld,
whilst Fig. 13 plots the computed shrinkage of the billet
Fig. 9. The continuous-casting process: (left) a schematic diagram; (center) geometry data, where the domain of analysis is shown in gray; (right) the
mechanical model and nite element mesh.
Fig. 10. Continuous casting: (left) isotherms in the metal zone; (right) iso-
curves of inelastic deformation, Kozlowski et al's model.
Fig. 11. Continuous casting: (left) Young's modulus as a function of temperature; (right) the thermal expansion function (y
r
= 1495

C).
150 A.E. Huespe et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 102 (2000) 143152
surface: it may be mentioned that the latter evaluation is
crucial to the prediction of the correct mould taper.
Axial stress iso-curves, using the Kozlowski et al. mate-
rial model, are depicted in Fig. 14, whilst Fig. 15 makes a
comparison amongst the axial stresses at different times
obtained with the three material models. The circumferential
stress values are very close to the axial values, whilst the
radial components are approximately one order of magni-
tude smaller. Owing to the range of validity of the present
material models, stress values in the mushy zone are not
reliable.
It can be observed that stresses predicted by the three
material models are quite similar at the early stage. It is also
noted that visco-plastic relaxation makes the stresses
decrease compared to the elasto-plastic stresses as time
proceeds.
Kristiansson [15] and Thomas and Parkman [16], per-
formed similar studies on continuous casting processes.
They considered one-dimensional mechanical models, in
a parabolized approach to the governing differential equa-
tions with visco-plastic materials. Particularly, the latter
authors have also used Kozlowski et al.'s material model.
The present results and theirs have a good general agree-
ment. However, in the present case traction at the billet
surface within the mould region is predicted, while they
[15,16] have both obtained compression in this zone. In
other words, the present model indicates favorable condi-
tions for the development of surface cracks. This difference
may be explained by the facts that: (i) Kristiansson have
used a constant heat-extraction law; and (ii) Thomas et al.
modeled a 0.1 wt.% C steel and accounted for the dg phase
transformation.
5. Conclusions
Two visco-plastic material models have been presented to
simulate the thermo-mechanical behavior of a plain carbon
steel above the austeniticferritic phase transformation tem-
perature, both of them being adequate for modeling casting
and hot-working processes.
The numerical examples presented in this paper, enable
the conclusion to be drawn that Kozlowski et al.'s model is
better for several reasons. Firstly, it can be seen as a general-
ized standard material and therefore it has a well grounded
thermodynamic framework. Secondly, it has proven to be
more robust than Anand's model to simulate a visco-plastic
material with a tendency towards a rate-independent
response. Thirdly, Anand introduced a parameter z
0
, the
value of which is quite difcult to predict and inuence
greatly the results. Finally, although Anand's model has
shown a slightly better agreement with Wray's experimental
data, that of Kozlowski et al. showed a better t when
compared with Suzuki et al.'s data.
Special attention has been given to the computational
aspects of models. A robust scheme for the time integration
Fig. 12. Stressstrain curves for the visco-plastic and elasto-plastic
material model. The parameters of the elasto-plastic model are the yield
stress s
Y
(y) and the hardening modulus h(y).
Fig. 13. Continuous casting, showing the radial displacement of the billet
surface.
Fig. 14. Continuous casting, showing iso-curves of axial stress (s
z
),
Kozlowski et al.'s model.
A.E. Huespe et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 102 (2000) 143152 151
of the constitutive equations. The present procedure has
been compared with others in the literature and has proven to
be as accurate and robust as those described in the reference
works. An isothermal algorithmic tangent matrix to be used
in the Newton iterative procedure for evaluating the equili-
brium conditions has been computed.
Finally, the stress analysis of an important industrial
process has been shown.
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Fig. 15. Continuous casting showing the distribution of axial stresses (s
z
) vs. distance beneath the surface at different times: (a) axial distance from meniscus
z = 0:25 m (time t = 8:33 s); (b) z = 0:50 m (time t = 16:7 s); (c) z = 0:75 m (time t = 25:0 s); (d) z = 0:95 m (time t = 31:7 s). (g is the austenitic phase; l is
the liquid phase and g l is the mushy zone.)
152 A.E. Huespe et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 102 (2000) 143152