A yield function for anisotropic materials Application to aluminum alloys

A phenomenological yield function is proposed to represent the plastic anisotropy of aluminum sheets. It is an extension of the functions given by Barlat et al. [Int. J. Plasticity 7 (1991) 693] and Karafillis and Boyce [J. Mech. Phys. Solids 41 (1993) 1859]. The anisotropy is represented by 12 parameters in the form of two fourth order symmetric tensors. Four other parameters influence the shape of the yield surface uniformly. The role of each parameter is described in detail. The convexity of the yield surface is proved. The implementation of the proposed yield function is done in the 3D general case in an object-oriented finite element code. It is used to represent the anisotropy of a 2024 aluminum thin sheet and the adjustment is excellent. Other anisotropic materials from the literature are also well described by the proposed yield function.