Evaluation of the active plasticity hypothesis as a relevant justification of the warm pre stressing effect

This study aims to evaluate the relevance of the active plasticity hypothesis in predicting the risk of cleavage fracture during a warm pre-stressing loading cycle. A critical loading path, along which the active plasticity hypothesis might fail, has been defined using a comparison of the Beremin local model to a stress-based criterion model. ts of experiments, performed on normalized compact tensile specimens made of 16MND5 steel, have confirmed the results obtained by finite element analysis, saying that the active plasticity was a necessary condition for cleavage fracture.