Advanced technologies of materials characterisation and concepts for component assessment are no longer thinkable without use of numerical methods. They facilitate an improved gaining of information from experiments, and they are indispensable in cases when:
- experiments on real components are not possible or justified, for safety or other reasons, due to their size or complex load conditions;
- parameter studies are to be carried out, such as variation of materials variables or load assumptions;
- here are high requirements of operational safety concurrent with optimal exploitation of the material to its service limits;
Numerical simulations are however only as powerful and accurate, as the models on which they are based. Therefore, competence in the area of modelling of material and component behaviour under external influence is essential for advanced materials research and application. Here, the relationships between micro structure and global technical properties of engineering materials are of particular significance.
The finite element method (FEM) for tension and deformation analyses of complex structures is recognised as a flexible and well established instrument. However, commercially available programmes, e.g.. ABAQUS oder ANSYS , offer only what is respectively considered the state of art in material equations. Therefore, it is necessary in all materials research to continue the development and refinement of material models for the characterisation of deformation and damage.