Growth of a spherical micro-void in an infinite elastoplastic body under thermal load

The growth of preexisting spherical micro-void in an infinite elastoplastic body under thermal load is analyzed. Based on the geometrical nonlinearity with large deformation and the yield criterion of perfect plasticity, a mathematical model of the problem is presented. The Lagrangian and Euler coordinate systems are introduced to describe the thermal expansion deformation. By the elastoplastic analysis, the distributions of the stresses near the cavity are obtained. When the initial radius of a preexisting micro-void tends to be infinitely small, the critical temperature of cavitation can be calculated. The instability of the micro-void inside the infinite body is discussed. The results of numeric computation indicate that the radius of the cavity and the radius of the plastic zone would rapidly grow when the remote temperature increases and approaches the critical temperature.