Elastic and Plastic Response of Perforated Metal Sheets With Different Porosity Architectures

Abstract

The effects of porosity architecture and volume fraction on the homogenized elastic moduli and elastic-plastic response of perforated thin metal sheets are investigated under three fundamental loading modes using an efficient homogenization theory. Steel and aluminum sheets weakened by circular, hexagonal, square, and slotted holes arranged in square and hexagonal arrays subjected to inplane normal and shear loading are considered with porosity volume fractions in the range 0.1–0.6. Substantial variations are observed in the homogenized elastic moduli with porosity shape and array type. The differences are rooted in the stress transfer mechanism around traction-free porosities whose shape and distribution play major roles in altering the local stress fields and thus the homogenized response in the elastic-plastic domain. This response is characterized by four parameters that define different stages of micro- and macrolevel yielding. The variations in these parameters due to porosity architecture and loading direction provide useful data for design purposes under monotonic and cyclic loading.