Effect of the Grain Shape on the Elastic Constants of Polycrystalline Materials

We examine the influence of the grain shape on the effective elastic moduli of polycrystalline materials. For that purpose the real material is simulated by a cluster of Wigner-Seitz cells. For clarity each aggregate consists of grains with only one type of shape. Therefore we can classify each cluster by the coordination number of its grains. To determine the elastic moduli a homogeneous deformation is subjected to the surface of the cluster. The solution of this boundary value problem yields the average stress and strain governing inside the material whose interconnection by Hooke's law leads to the sought-for effective constants.