Global nonequilibrium energy criterion for predicting strength of 316L stainless steel under complex loadings: Theoretical modeling and experimental validation

Classical strength criteria are developed based on some empirical assumptions and have been widely used in engineering to predict material strength owing to their simplicity. In some cases, however, considerable discrepancies arise between classical-strength-criteria-based theoretical predictions and experimental results. Recently, a global nonequilibrium thermodynamics model has made important progress over classical models without resorting to any empirical assumptions. A prominent advance of this rational energy model is that it straightforwardly determines the dissipation energy density function, which is pertinent to inherent material ductility, through simple uniaxial and equi-biaxial tensions. In this study, a brief introduction of the nonequilibrium energy model was followed by systematic experimental investigation to determine the dissipation energy function and predict the material strength of pristine 316L stainless steel—commonly used in engineering—under complex loadings. The results indicated that the strength contours predicted by the nonequilibrium energy criterion for complex loadings are consistent with the experimental results obtained for biaxial tension, implying that the nonequilibrium thermodynamics model is both reasonable and reliable. The prediction error was presumed to be induced by the anisotropy of the 316L stainless steel sheets.