Microstructure-based modelling and Digital Image Correlation measurement of strain fields in austenitic stainless steel 316L during tension loading

The present work aims to compare the local strain fields on the microscopic scale of an austenitic stainless steel 316L sample during tension loading, obtained by experimental measurements and simulations. Experimentally, Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique is used to track the strain maps during the specimen loading. Microstructure-based Finite Element (FE) models based on two different approaches for the material behaviour, Crystal Plasticity (CP) and Sistaninia-Niffenegger Fatigue (SNF) ones, provide the numerical results. The quality of the outcomes reinforces the use of a combination of these techniques to study the residual strain localization in the microstructure, as well as its evolution during the deformation process. Whereas the calculated and measured strain and stress fields showed good agreement in the elastic range, as expected, significant differences were found between CP and SNF approaches at large plastic strains.