On the coupled thermomechanical treatment of necking problems via finite element methods

The necking process of a bar in an uniaxial tension test is influenced by the heat production due to inelastic deformations. Thus, for an analysis of this problem the thermomechanical coupling has to be considered. A finite element model and an associated algorithm are developed for this purpose. This computational tool allows the study of adiabatic processes as well as processes with heat flux. The analysis of the necking process of a perfectly cylindrical specimen shows that, in contrast to isothermal and adiabatic cases, no bifurcation occurs in the case where heat flux is considered.