A Modified Microplane Model Using Transformation Surfaces to Consider Loading History on Phase Transition in Shape Memory Alloys

In most of the existing SMA constitutive models, it is assumed that transformation starts when a thermodynamic driving force reaches a specified amount regardless of loading history. In this work, a phenomenological approach is used to develop an enhanced one-dimensional constitutive model in which loading history is directly considered as one of the main parameters affecting the transformation start conditions. To generalize the model to three-dimensional cases, a microplane formulation based on volumetric-deviatoric is employed. A free energy potential is defined at the microplane level, integrated over all orientations at a material point to provide the macroscopic free energy. Experiments are carried out on Nitinol superelastic tubes to validate the newly proposed constitutive model. In these experiments, interruptions are applied during transformations to show the effects of loading history on transformation start conditions. Numerical results are compared with the experimental data to demonstrate the accuracy of the enhanced model.