Thermoviscoplastic shear instability and higher order strain gradients (Q1204853)

We examine the role of higher order strain gradients in the instability and localization of deformation during the shearing of a thermoviscoplastic material. We take the point of view that thermal softening is the leading mechanism of instability. A gradient dependent yield condition is assumed in order to stabilize the behavior within the softening regime. It turns out that the critical conditions for both instability and localization are different than those obtained in the absence of higher order strain gradients.