A general autofrettage model of a thick-walled cylinder based on tensile-compressive stress-strain curve of a material

The basic autofrettage theory assumes elastic-perfectly plastic behaviour. Because of the Bauschinger effect and strain-hardening, most materials do not display elastic-perfectly plastic properties and consequently various autofrettage models are based on different simplified material strain-hardening models, which assume linear strain-hardening or power strain-hardening or a combination of these strain-hardening models. This approach gives a more accurate prediction than the elastic-perfectly plastic model and is suitable for different strain-hardening materials. In this paper, a general autofrettage model that incorporates the material strain-hardening relationship and the Bauschinger effect, based upon the actual tensile-compressive stress-strain curve of a material is proposed. The model incorporates the von Mises yield criterion, an incompressible material, and the plane strain condition. Analytic expressions for the residual stress distribution have been derived. Experimental results show that the present model has a stronger curve-fitting ability and gives a more accurate prediction. Several other models are shown to be special cases of the general model presented in this paper. The parameters needed in the model are determined by fitting the actual tensile-compressive curve of the material, and the maximum strain of this curve should closely represent the maximum equivalent strain at the inner surface of the cylinder under maximum autofrettage pressure.