Numerical simulation of the stress–strain curve of duplex weathering steel

The stress–strain curve of duplex weathering steel was measured. Meanwhile, by using the finite element method (FEM), it was simulated to be based on the stress–strain curves of single-phase martensite and ferrite steels; then the measured result was compared with the simulated one. Effective factors such as the volume fraction of martensite and the yield stress ratio between martensite and ferrite in duplex weathering steel are discussed in this work. The results showed that the simulated result closely fits the measured one, which proves that this FEM built in this work is correct. Instead of the elastic part of the stress–strain curve, the effect of the volume fraction of martensite on its plastic part is obvious. With the decreasing of the volume fraction of martensite, the strain is increased greatly. In addition, instead of the elastic part of the stress–strain curve, the effect of the yield stress ratio (C∗) of the duplex weathering steel is obvious too. However, the effect of the volume fraction of martensite on the stress–strain curve of the duplex weathering steel is larger than that of the volume fraction of martensite.