Semi-solid thixoforming processes rely on a material microstructure made of globular solid grains more or less connected to each other, thus developing a solid skeleton deforming into a liquid phase. During processing, the material structure changes with the processing history due to the agglomeration of the particles and the breaking of the grains bonds. This particular evolutive microstructure makes semi-solid materials behave as solids at rest and as liquids during shearing, which causes a decrease of the viscosity and of the resistance to deformation while shearing. Thixoforming of aluminum and magnesium alloys is state of the art and a growing number of serial production lines are in operation all over the world. But there are only few applications of semi-solid processing of higher melting point alloys such as steel. This can partly be attributed to the high forming temperature combined with the intense high temperature corrosion that requires new technical solutions. However the semi-solid forming of steels reveals high potential to reduce material as well as energy consumption compared to conventional process technologies, such as casting and forging. Simulation techniques exhibit a great potential to acquire a good understanding of the semi-solid material process. Therefore, this work deals with the development of an appropriate constitutive model for semi-solid thixoforming of steel. The constitutive law should be able to simulate the complex rheology of semi-solid materials, under both steady-state and transient conditions. For example, the peak of viscosity at start of a fast loading should be reproduced. The use of a finite yield stress is appropriate because a vertical billet does not collapse under its own weight unless the liquid fraction is too high. Furthermore, this choice along with a non-rigid solid formalism allows predicting the residual stresses after cooling down to room temperature. Several one-phase material modeling have been proposed and are compared. Thermo-mechanical modeling using a thermo-elasto-viscoplastic constitutive law has been developed. The basic idea is to extend the classical isotropic hardening and viscosity laws to the non solid state by considering two non-dimensional internal parameters. The first internal parameter is the liquid fraction and depends on the temperature only. The second one is a structural parameter that characterizes the degree of structural build up in the microstructure. Those internal parameters can depend on each other. The internal parameters act on the the viscosity law and on the yield surface evolution law. Different formulations of viscosity and hardening laws have been proposed and are compared to each other. In all cases, the semi-solid state is treated as a particular case, and the constitutive modeling remains valid over the whole range of temperature, starting from room temperature to above the liquidus. These models are tested and illustrated by mean of several representative numerical applications.

Dans cette thèse, nous proposons une analyse globale multi-échelles de la fatigue à faible nombre de cycles des matériaux à mémoire de forme (MMF). Dans un premier temps, une large campagne d’essais a été menée pour différents chargements thermomécaniques comprenant des tests de fatigue sous contrainte et déformation imposée et pour différentes fréquences de chargement. A partir des résultats des essais, un critère de fatigue, basé sur l’énergie de déformation, a été développé ; on montre que l’énergie de déformation est un paramètre pertinent pour prédire la fatigue des MMF en tenant compte du couplage thermomécanique et du type de chargement : contrainte ou déformation imposée. Ensuite, en prenant appui sur la répartition de l’énergie de l’hystérésis en dissipation et énergie stockée, on avance une interprétation physique du mécanisme de la fatigue des MMF. Dans la troisième partie, on propose une modélisation multi-échelles de l’initiation des fissures de fatigue dans les MMF à partir de la notion de plasticité de transformation (PlTr). Dans ce cadre, on montre que la fatigue de MMF est contrôlée par la (PlTr) et que la température maximale lors de la transformation de phase est le paramètre à retenir pour prédire la rupture par fatigue des MMF. Le modèle permet également de prédire le lieu d’initiation des premières fissures de fatigue. Enfin, un procédé – fondé sur l’«éducation» des MMF – permettant d’améliorer la résistance à la fatigue est proposé. / The thesis proposes a multi-scale comprehensive analysis of low cycle fatigue of shape memory alloys (SMAs). First, low cycle fatigue of SMAs is experimentally investigated; comprehensive tensile-tensile fatigue tests under both stress and strain controlled loadings at different frequencies are carried out and results are discussed. Second, a new strain energy-based fatigue criterion is developed; it is shown that the use of total strain energy is a relevant parameter to predict fatigue lifetime of SMAs for different thermomechanical conditions and under different types (strain-control or stress-control) loadings. A physical interpretation of the mechanism related to the low-cycle fatigue of SMAs is then provided based on the conversion of hysteresis work into dissipation and stored energy. Third, fatigue crack initiation during cyclic stress-induced phase transformation is modeled based on transformation induced plasticity (TRIP); it is shown that the maximum temperature during the cyclic loading is a relevant indicator of the fatigue of SMA. Furthermore, the effect of the macroscopic mechanical load on the the fatigue lifetime is addressed as well as the spatial location of crack initiation. Finally, a mechanical training process that allows enhancing resistance to low cycle fatigue of SMAs is proposed.