Characterization of the mechanical behaviour of materials in the tensile test: experiments and simulation

This paper presents an experimental analysis and a numerical simulation of the mechanical behaviour experienced during the tensile test by both cylindrical and strip specimens of different materials for which the classical so-called Bridgman's procedure aimed at predicting the stress distribution at the necking zone cannot be directly applied. A set of experiments has been carried out in order to derive the elastic and hardening parameters that characterize the material response. The simulation of the deformation process during the whole test is performed with a finite element large strain elastoplasticity-based formulation. Finally, the results obtained with the simulation are experimentally validated.